Quote:
Originally posted by Peaches@Jan 12 2003, 03:44 PM
One thing I DID notice was how many TGP people were there. They were merely a blip on the radar a couple of years ago, but now they seemed to eclipse the free site/pay site/link list etc. folks in sheer numbers 
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This much is predictable, several factors have brought it about. First off the dotcom bubble burst produced a lot of empty racks in a lot of data centers. Pipe and servers have gotten pretty cheap. Meanwhile the search engines are migrating to paid listings and becoming more challenging to work effectively than ever before.
TGPs have become the easiest target for traffic....such as it is. So not only do you have all of the newbies playing the TGP game, but a larger and larger percentage of hobbyists who previously played free sites, link lists, etc.
Thus you're seeing the pressure in the middle tiers of the business. The big guys are ok, they've made their money, and a good warchest of cash is the best way to weather any storm. The little guys are ok because many of them are just in for beer money anyway. Many of the ones who are doing it as their real job dont have house payments, kids or worry about such trivial things as retirement investing, etc.
It's the guys in the middle who are trying to make payroll for themselves and maybe a handful of employees that are really getting squeezed because the margins are pretty thin on TGP traffic even if you're good at it. And many of the other wells for traffic have somewhat dried up.