I Need Everyones Opinion.

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2003 7:37 pm

Hey Everyone,

Im sure all of you are aware of my site AlleVonTech.com, and may have visited it in the past. Maybe never. But the situation is this. Im sick of the employment business and working for no profit.

Mainly because No Companies Have Money to afford to post ANY jobs. My site WAS huge. It actually came in 2nd to a LARGE competitors at the 2000 MIMC Annual Awards.

I have rebuilt and improved the site 3 times since it has peaked in 2000. However, with each re-build, less came. Go figure. My site has become an unemployed HANGOUT. But that doesn't help me.

Job Seekers use my Resume Emailer, and that pays the bills. Whoopee. I need a profit, otherwise, Im working day and night since 1998, for nothing. Ask Zhen, he could attest. I have profitted from the site since 2001. My money and Resume Emailer, have kept me treading water.

So now that your aware of the lame situation and my lack of desire to improve it for employers or job seekers, I want a change. I think I OWE it to the loyal users of the site. However, they are reluctant with ideas. Your all Nukers and webmasters. I value your OPINIONS.

I really dont want to destroy anything that currently exists, but I want to improve and go in different directions.

What does exist: ALOT of resumes, A good amount of forum traffic discussing web stuff and miscellaneous stuff, A good member base, A large library of links, reviews and music. It has alot of different variations for entertainment.

Draws a large crowd from the modeling community, (However, I am already currently building a modeling site under a different domain) I also have alot of Nukers who come in, grab a script and bail. Overall though, traffic is sporadic.

I think I have covered the situation, and if you have noticed on the top logo, it doesn't say Global Employment Solutions anymore.

Why? Because I don't know the direction I want to go.

My Question for your opinion is this:
Do I continue the way I am and keep trying to squeeze water out of a rock from broke employers? Theres a million job sites that are way more boring, but Im tired of spending advertising money for no profit.

Im going to add a poll to this post, select something I should do, and let me know some comments. Im head aches from thinking and I would hate to trash the site altogether. That includes my downloadable scripts.

Please post INTELLIGENT opinions/comments/critiques, good or bad. I really dont want this to become a "go shoot yourself - site sucks" type of post.

Thanks in advance everyone.

Sergeant Joined: Apr 15, 2003 Posts: 83 Location: Athens

Well, I have been checking out your site. First off, I must say your site is gorgeous. One of the nicest nuke sites I have seen in a while. I think what I like about it is that it does not look like Nuke?

Anyway, I'm not sure what to tell you on the direction to take. Perhaps you could find a way to capitalize on the whole Unemployed Hangout situation. You know, "reviews, music etc. and by the way, you really should be looking for a job." It could be like rehab for the unemployed.

I'm sure that probably sounds terrible but it's the best I could do right now, since it's late. Smile

Good Luck!

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

Your site is really nice Smile

I dont remember how or why I got to it but it was so nice I bookmarked it. Personally I think you should stay away from the porn flat out your site looks very classy and coolness Smile

if it was me I would stick out trying to be an employment site maybe thats why I bookmarked it? I did notice that there was way too wide of variety of stuff there you should defintly take one direction with it. good luck and your site does look really cool:)

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2003 9:32 am

Wow guys,

Thank you for the compliments! Seriously, I really appreciate it.

I created those themes to mainly appeal to the users and professional market. I didn't realize until Max mentioned it, that it doesn't resemble a Nuke site.

Both of your feedback is really uplifting and encouraging. I feel somewhat similar to both of you as far as being an employment site. The reason I considered the porn route, was for the money.

But I think Paris is right about being classy, and I beleive that I would lose quite a bit of original users, but I might gain alot more new ones. But personally, I don't want it to become a porn site.

Max has a good point about the UnEmployment Hangout. Its been a HUGE consideration. Especially that Re-Hab part. It's not terrible at all. It's very true. I have TONS of broke job seekers that I feel REALLY REALLY bad for. But what can I do?

I have spent years making every possible way for them and employers to connect. However, it's neither their fault or mine. It's the employers. In cost comparison, The largest competitor requires a 1 year contract at $9,000 per month. I dropped mine to like $199 a YEAR. At my peak, I charged $450 per month.

Yes some competitors pay for the exposure. But rest assured, the employment industry all knows my site. They have been there and all want everything FREE.

If I could, I would. So, since the site is an unemployed hangout, I really thought about that route. It might nudge down a notch to less professional, but overall I think the users would like it.

Anyway, still haven't decided, and I look forward to more opinions/comments to help decide.

Thanks again for taking the time.

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

I am building a Macromedia Flash community site totally non-profit and have a web graphics background not really programming but I have some ideas for a module to do several things. The latest buzzword these days is "Collective" getting people together to handle projects that are to big for one sane person yet to small to hire a big firm for. I am currently storyboarding a module just for this purpose. to help people to form small design or development teams users would apply to become part of the "collective" in this application they would state there skills and background and basic membership info ie phone, messenger and other contacts resume, portfolio links and what type of team he or she wants to join and the role they would like to play. then submit the info which would be passed up much the same way as a new news artical to be reviewed and catagorized by an admin if accepted the user would would be placed on a collective team and become a news artical on the front page and also be added to their teams Collective Membership page. Once a team has completed a sucessful project that would aslo become a news artical on the mainpage and also they would gain some type of ranking system sort of like nuke cadet and also get an interview by an moderator. perhaps you know how to develop such a module? maybe you know some one that could? this system could be used many ways like for my site to build a membership or perhaps you could arrange to sell services of your sucessful teams. even nuke cops should look into a system like this. if your interested let me know as my programming skills arent that great I am pretty sure its possiable to cobble this together from existing modules. let me know if you or anyone you know is interested.

Corporal Joined: Apr 14, 2003 Posts: 61 Location: FL

I echo the no porn, tho everyone knows that porn and gambling are what pays the bucks on the net.
I like the "rehab" idea. Music reviews, etc would allow you to add links to affiliates that sell the product being reviewed. Even the unemplyed often manage to squeeze out a few bucks for a wanted cd or book.'The site is so nice...got to be a way to merge what you have with new things to allow some money to come in....
>>>Thinking<<<<
Now that's scary

Lieutenant Joined: May 29, 2003 Posts: 231

When the economy goes mush like it has for a couple years now, certain areas always take a beating. People start curtailing their spending on non-essential expensive items. Companies in turn then lose profits, cut jobs, and stop spending themselves. The very low interest rates have encouraged people to continue purchasing things like cars, houses, etc. Even so, this peters out as time drags on and people worry about losing their jobs and the pool of those apt to purchase dries up. At some low point, the economy kick starts itself back in turning around. This one has dragged out so long because the bull market was so long and the wealth bubble so high.

During these tough times, you have to think what will people spend their money on regardless of how the economy is doing: food, clothing, shelter, cosmetics, drugs, porn, gambling, cheap entertainment, etc. Those who recognize a need when the economy is sour can make tons of money even if it doesn't turn around....though it always does eventually. Many businesses like Starbucks, MaryKay, and Krispy Kreme got their starts when the economy was bad. They saw a niche, got into it, worked very hard, and became multi-millionaires.

Personally, I would hate to see you go into porn unless you have a real interest in it. You can make some pretty decent money in that area though. Right now your site caters to matching employers and possible workers but is mostly an unemployeed hangout. Have you ever thought about organizing these people into starting their own businesses? Maybe you could pull their talents and offer classes or services so they can help each other out. When people leave school or lose a job, the natural mindset is the only job is to go work for someone else. I think it's like 50% of the workforce in the US is actually employed by small businesses. It's very scary to start a business on your own. If there's an interest among these people, you could probably make some decent money acting as den mother and hand ringer while they try to start something up on their own. If you have any technical people, they ought to go after some of the money from the huge defense budget that was passed. The government is required to send a large portion of their contracts to small businesses...usually it's done as subcontracts from a larger contractor.

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 1:11 pm

Hi evryone, thanks for some of these great words of encouragement and advice/suggestions. I think I will probably go the unemployed hangout route, even though the poll is a 3way split. But I would like to incorporate and include all these ideas somehow. So I guess, I will begin deciding how to tackle it. Anyway, in case your interested, I added a new AVT model to the other 20 we got on the site. She will be the spokemodel for the company as well. Enjoy:

New AVT Model Ryder

As close to porn as well will get. So I think your all right, and we'll stay off the porn route.

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

HOLY COW **************
maybe i was wrong ......... YOU DIDNT MENTION PINUP GURLZZzzzzz

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2003 6:53 pm

LOL, Yea Paris, I've been shooting for a year now models to be AVT girls. Lingerie at most, so it's not porn. Kind of like a page 3 girl thing.

Seems to be really popular and the girls are always on the site checking their stats. They chat with the members, etc. Thats why I think the unemployed hangout is a good idea.

Ryder, is the girl I shot yesterday. Shes going to be the new AVT spokemodel and Im promoting the hell out of her to the modeling community. Out of all the models I worked with, shes one of the funnest and nicest.

Others are married or moved, but my 3 favs are Willow, Lisa and Perry, Now Im adding Ryder to that list.

You can see their pics in the AVT community, then select the Gallery all from your Account Desktop. Enjoy.

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

hehehehehe omg I should have known your a photoshop fiend like me Smile

you can tell by the quality of the graphics on yer site. I am definitly not into porn of any kind but nice classy pics like those have to be a big draw for the unemployed guys.

Is there a chance to get some of those pics for a "Patron saint of my website" module. I have seen some modules like that but was unsure about the quality and copyright issuses hehehehe so never really checked em out.

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2003 12:47 pm

Hey Paris,

Actually its Paint Shop Pro AND Photoshop combined. I just started using Photoshop, but not really happy with the results. Som I do re-edits with Paint Shop and poof, they look great.

You can see all the models that I shot (Except the ones I fired) in the members area.

Good idea about the module, I got a shoot wednesday after that, Ill have some time to create it. Thanks for the compliments.

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

I keep getting this when hitting your account module and other modules ?heheheheh darn it

File Not Found or Moved

The link you followed may be inaccurate or outdated
due to our recent website re-design.

We suggest you visit our Homepage for the correct link.

We have logged this error and will look into it right away.
We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences.
Das Link, das Sie folgten, kann an unserer neuen
websiteneukonstruktion ungenaues oder überholtes liegen
Wir haben diesen Fehler protokolliert und werden in ihn Recht weg schauen.
Wir entschuldigen herzlichst uns für alle mögliche Unannehmlichkeiten.

Return or go to our Home page.

Nuke Cadet Joined: Jun 18, 2003 Posts: 9

I echo what MikeMiles said ( Idea

) about finding the niche... if you are getting a lot of persistent traffic from unemployed folks, there may be ways to leverage that. The oddtodd.com phenom is something to think about... profit from your angst (or in your case from the angst of your members).

Sweet Site in any case... I agree it is way to nice for porn... but the page #3 girl concept is appealing... (I mean, Ryder? - Wow)
good luck -
KrewZen

Nuke Soldier Joined: Jun 01, 2003 Posts: 32

dang i cant access it allevon HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!