It has been a while since I last posted on GoGolian. There
are multiple reasons, the main one I want to say was not having time, but if I
am honest it was more that I did not know what to do with my brainchild
linkaGoGo.
I started linkaGoGo in April 2001. It grew originally out of
my bad typing and as I always typed in bad urls. These took forever to resolve
in to nothing or a website that I had no interest in. I tried to use the
browser bookmarks features but got frustrated with their folder only oriented
UI and the fact I used browsers on multiple machines and it was a nightmare to
keep the bookmarks in sync.
Since then I added a whole bunch features that I needed in
my use of linkaGoGo, which made my life a lot easier. Then I got requests from members
also using linkaGoGo and added more features. Some I used as well others less.
Things changed a bit when another bookmarking website
del.ico.us got bought by Yahoo. I thought I had an opportunity here and moved
my focus from pure bookmarking to selling sponsored links, which worked, but
caused a huge inflow of a different kind of user. People trying to promote
their website by bookmarking it on every bookmarking site they could find.
There are even services that allow you with one submit automatically a link to
a number of website.
linkaGoGo ballooned and ended up with 1.5 million registered
users and 650 million bookmarks. As a result of that I had to scale and invest
to keep the service running. This year was pivotal as Google started to threaten
all those folks that used linkaGoGo to promote their website to get it off some
of linkaGoGo’s public pages or it would demote them in Google search result ranking,
the result was I got zillions of people asking, begging and even threatening me
to remove their links.
This summer I was ready to pull the plug, but then realized
I would lose exactly why I started linkaGoGo. My need for a fast, convenient
online bookmark manager. Pulling the plug was not an option I liked and decided
to change course and clean ship. At the moment I’m in the process of focusing back
linkaGoGo’s core: personal bookmarking. This has resulted in a number of
changes and will continue to do more changes.
Things that have changed are that all public facing
bookmarks have either a nofollow attribute on the page or the bookmark and
according to Google’s policies should no longer be punished for being linked
from another “non-content” related website. Still can’t believe the grand
censorhip of our favorite “no-evil” search engine. Also removed all the
advertising and sponsored links, unless there were running contracts, but they
should be gone by September 2013. I also removed the large directory sites
go/Sites and go/Directory. This had a positive impact on the load of the
servers.
In the planning for the near future are a number of things. First
clean out the database and only leave accounts of members that really use
linkaGoGo as it was intended, by visiting their websites using their bookmarks
on linkaGoGo.
Second is to remove free subscriptions, I’m still thinking about
how to implement this. But basically I want to get rid of spammers and since linkaGoGo
has no longer advertising income will need to increase subscription income. In
the end linkaGoGo does not charge that much, only $4.95 for a Plus subscription
and $19.95 for a full Premier subscription, and this is not per month, but per
year. So I’m thinking of either a $.99 trial for 2 months (this will definitely
get rid of spammers) or a 7 day free trial, which can then be upgraded to a
Plus or Premium subscription.
Third I also want to
make the Premium subscriptions a little simpler by just providing the full
Premium subscription.
Next is to upgrade the user interface, it still has the early
2000 look and it really could use a facelift. You can see an example of it on
the linkaGoGo iPad page. I have
also been thinking about browser plugins, made a Chrome extension prototype
which look very promising.
So 2013 promises to become an exciting year for linkaGoGo.
Let me know in the comments what you think of all this.
Hi Henry,
ReplyDeleteIt had been so long since we had heard from you and there was so much down time I was afraid we were going to lose linkagogo. I am happy to hear you are still around and want to get back to the basics.
I tried some of the other sites. I do not want to share my bookmarks with the world. That is why I came back. Keep it simple. Keep it fast. Keep it running. That is all I ask. :)
Thanks,
Don
This service you're providing is really very very handy. I have been using it for a long time now and I guess it's about time to pay/subscribe/donate since i have been stashing my bookmarks here ever since i run the operating systems Knoppix 3/5/6/7, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, W98se, W2K, Vista, XP, XP64, W7, W7-64, Slackware, ArtistX, etc on various computers at various locations. And as many will know you'll have to deal with EI7/8/9, Firefox, Iceweasel, Aurora, Chrome, Chromium, Safari, Konquerer, etc. Without an excellent service like LinkaGoGo, that doesn't care about proprietary issues and keeping customers in-house (like Firefox's Sync and the likes that do not let you sync bookmark lists from other competitor browsers), my websurfing life would have been hell. Looking forward to paying, using as main bookmarks list and promoting it. Please keep up the good work since you're doing an excellent job here. Bless and peace from the Netherlands.
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