Interview with the Creator of ThisIsWhyImBroke.com

The creator of ThisIsWhyImBroke.com did a AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit yesterday. If you’re wondering what it takes to build and run a site like that, click over and read the full user-generated interview.

I’m assuming your revenue model is charging advertising fees from the companies that you list products for. Is that correct or am I off base?

No, our business model is affiliate links. When someone buys something through our links, we get a commission. I’d say roughly half of the site’s content isn’t affiliate products, and is posted up for free/without compensation. We never accept payment as a means to get product listed on our site.

Do you actively pursue all of the products listed on the website or are you approached by companies wanting you to list their products? Both. But companies that approach us get the same treatment as a regular fan who wants to submit a cool product for our consideration.

If you are being solicited by companies to advertise their products, was that always your business model?

Not applicable to us, but I think for a website like this it’s just a terrible long term strategy. Yes you can make money in the short term, but down the line you’ll have a website full of lame products.

How much does it actually cost to advertise on reddit? I’ve heard crazy numbers thrown out there but I wasn’t sure if they were true.

It only costs $20-$30 minimum per day to advertise on Reddit. It’s basically a big pool of money, and the more you pay per day, the more your ad gets displayed.

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