Today DNJournal Announced that Chef Patrick has parted ways with ScienceFiction.com as Braden Pollock takes over as the owner/operator of the site. As many of you know Patrick spearheaded the transformation of ScienceFiction.com from a dormant domain name into an online destination for Sci Fi fans. The Chef cooked up a WordPress blog on the site, hired a team of writers and built the traffic up to a whopping 500,000+ visitors/month.
Patrick and Ze got the traffic to 500k visits and now with the sale of their shares are handing over the reigns to Braden who has his own set of goals for the site. Braden is a good friend of mine and one of the sharpest business people I have ever met, and I’m proud to say my main mentor in this business. If anyone can turn traffic into revenue, Braden’s the guy. I asked Braden a few questions today about the purchase and what’s in-store for ScienceFiction.com:
[Morgan] What made you decide to take ScienceFiction.com over?
[Braden] I think it just felt like it was the right time. Patrick made me an offer I couldn’t refuse so I decided to do it.
[Morgan] What are your short term plans for the site?
[Braden] Once Ally gets to know all of the writers, I’d like to increase the number of articles posted each day, add original interviews and expand the movie section.
[Morgan] What are your long term plans for the site?
[Braden] I’d like to put together a group of movie studio (or their agency) advertisers so the site will stable revenue.
[Morgan] Most people think that 500k visitors means tons of revenue, why has this not been the case so far for the site?
[Braden] Advertisers typically don’t beat down your door to buy space on your site. It takes a dedicated sales team to make calls and then make more calls just to get a test campaign from an advertiser. Thus far there has been no concerted effort to sell ad space. This is on the short list.
[Morgan] What are the leanings from what was previously done with the site? (i.e what do you think was done right and what was done wrong?)
[Braden] I don’t know that anything was done wrong. Patrick and Ze built a great team that consistently writes solid content. The monthly traffic proves that. I’d like to keep doing what has been working and try a few new things. Time will tell if the new ideas work or not. Adding more content and expanding a few sections probably can’t hurt. Bringing in more revenue definitely can’t hurt.
[Morgan] Any secret sauce you can share or special techniques you’ll be using to take the site to the next level?
[Braden] If I told you my secret sauce, then all I’d be left with is plain ole’ sauce. J I like the way the site has been built with solid, original content. The growth and the links are all organic. I have an in-house social media dept, so I’ll let them have a crack at this project. I’d like to drive more traffic from Facebook and Twitter as well as some strategically placed sponsored article submissions on related sites. (read: more incoming links)
