One phenomenon that’s always intrigued me in the startup world is the vast number of successful startups that are completely under the radar. Sure we’ve all heard of Twitter and it seems like every few months the Tech Media (TechCrunches, Mashables, etc) all have a new annointed “darling” that they dote on.
Sure we’ve all heard of Twitter, Scribd, Justin.tv and any other slew of well-covered startups. But have you heard about a company called Zimbio? Probably not. I’d bet most people would be surprised to hear that Zimbio is a top 100 site in the U.S. (according to web metrics site Quantcast.com). That puts them right in the neighborhood of well-known brands like Time.com and NBC.com with about 8 million monthly U.S. visitors.
Funadvice is another site that has managed to stay out of the spotlight despite being a top 500 site (with an estimated 3 million monthly U.S. visitors). That puts them in the neighborhood of much higher profile (and presumably better-funded) sites like Jason Calacanis’ Mahalo.com and high-profile dating site Eharmony.com.
So what’s the point to all of this? Well, it tells me that for every site that’s “in the spotlight” there are an equal number of “under the radar” sites that are pulling in comparable traffic (my own site fanpop would fall into the “under the radar” category). These “under the radar” sites may be less sexy in the eyes of the Tech Media, but the traffic numbers don’t lie. Assuming many of them are bootstrapped or lightly staffed they are potentially pulling in some significant revenue. Take Zimbio, for instance. Quantcast pegs them at ~ 40 million monthly pageviews in the U.S. (100 million globally). Ignoring the international traffic, 40 million pageviews should yield 80 million ad impressions assuming 2 ad units per page. Even at a relatively modest $1 net cpm (conservative estimate since the average cpm should be higher if they are monetizing the site well) you’re looking at $80,000/month in U.S. ad revenue alone. Assuming they are able to monetize their global traffic at those rates, you have an even more compelling story. And…assuming a modest staff, you may be looking at a profitable business.
So one exercise I like to recommend to my fellow entrepreneurs is to periodically browse the Quantcast Top 1000 sites. You’ll see the usuall cast of characters in the Top 50. But even beyond that, you’ll uncover some really interesting sites; sites that you’ve never heard off but that are pulling in some crazy traffic. You’ll be even more fascinated as you run up into the 200s, 300s, 400s. It’s a great way to get some additional insight and perspective into what kinds of successful websites are out there, above and beyond the sites that everyone knows and talks about, and it might even help get you thinking about your next startup.