Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way to invest in the online web sites we use every day? I’m not just talking about buying stock in real companies that are on the stock market, but I’m talking about all of our favorite sites out there and ones that we know about before they get famous!
Sure, we invest in our own web sites and ad campaigns with advertising dollars and focusing on our pay per click ad campaigns, but the concept would be cool to invest in other sites on the internet as well.
While I’m sure this is just a dream for many of us, as we likely are VC and funding companies will millions of dollars to spread around, the concept of having an online market place where people could list their web sites and have people buy virtual shares and track the growth and following of different sites would be unique to say the least.
That is exactly what RankTrader.com is attempting to accomplish with their new web site that is currently in beta.
The infrastructure and concept is there, but it just needs some serious work on the design and simplicity to the site.
Let’s take a look at what they currently have running on the site.
Since the site is currently in beta, there isn’t a massive amount of sites in their directory, but as they continue to grow out the site it could a fun place to research sites and get a quick look at useful stats such as PageRank, Alexa and how other users are rating their sites.
Once you are setup with a free account you can start looking through their list of sites (shown above) and select any of the names you would like to invest in. With the site in beta, you can add any amount of virtual shares to your account, then place them in individual sites and the amount you would like to pay on a virtual share price.
The formula is the same as you would invest in regular stocks, with market orders, limit buys, option types and quantity.
Where the Future of RankTrader is Headed
I think the concept for the site has some potential and it just needs some work on the overall design and navigation to the site as it may be confusing for anyone who isn’t used to stock marketing trading.
The fun perks of the site is that you can follow and track multiple web sites through your system, based on many of the site stats than many of us keep an eye on daily (chart to the right). As users of the site and being an owner of a site in the system, you would also have access to SEO tools and tracking reports.
Anyone can submit their web site to the RankTrader website marketing place. Once their approval team checks your site, it will usually be live in the system within 24 hours.If RankTrader can put the time into a system that looks and feels much like the major stock trading sites on the internet and gain an audience among web site and blog owners, there is potential for the idea to catch on.It doesn’t matter if you are looking at pay per click stats or onsite web tracking… everyone loves to see details stats and especially get feedback and exposure for their own sites and RankTrader would definitely provide that if the audience is there.
