http://www.hauntuniverse.com/

[bodybagging]

Check it out! http://www.hauntuniverse.com/

[ClusterOne]

Jeeze, doesn't Jonathan ever sleep!! Looks kinda cool though, like a haunted Facebook.

-Joel-

[bodybagging]

Personally I think this is a GREAT IDEA! MYSPACE is cool , but seems that my friend requests are less and less Hauntminded individuals.....
Never got into Hauntspace, but this is one I think will go the distance.....
Jonathan is always thinking of ways to bring the Industry together..........

[drfrightner]

Another person has already made a site like this I think called Hauntspace or something like that. I personally think this is kinda funny... HauntWORLD, now HauntUNIVERSE. I think its pretty obvious how that URL was picked.

LOL

I wonder how many more haunted sites we can have for our small industry and if they're really needed. It's so hard to build up sites like these, or new message boards, or anything of the sort. It takes years and years and years to do it, and you don't make money from the effort. I know a lot of these sites try to make money charging for ads or sponsorship but just because someone puts a site up doesn't mean its worthy of sponsorship or ads to be placed on the site.

Our industry is so small that most of the buyers know how to buy directly from the vendor without reinforcement from a site that doesn't get any traffic. I have banners on HW, but turn down almost all the advertisement offered to me because I just don't want my site littered up with roll overs, banners for whatever blah, blah.

We have the traffic, we have the movie industry, and everyone else you can think of trying to buy banners from us and we turn them all down. I've been told I've flushed $100k down the drain...but right now it's just not that important to me.

That isn't why I started the site. Since I started this site, I've seen atleast 50 to 100 sites try and create one for themselves only to eventually watch them wash down the drain. There is only so many of us and that is it.

I guess all these sites are good especially if they're promoting going to haunts, which is my main focus!!!

Anyway I guess I'm off the subject.

Good luck to whatever site that starts up!

Larry

[Jonathan]

You make great points Larry. I do have to agree on many levels. Alot of people out there try to make a few bucks by charging for stuff etc. And yes, it takes lots of effort to get boards started. That is why HW forums are successful, lots of time put into it and building it up.

There is another site out there for haunters, but it was more enthusiast based than industry based. The goal of the site is to take the advantages of myspace and narrow it down to the industry specifically.

But I do have to agree with you Larry that our industry is small and concentrated, that is why it is so important to network and all work together. You make some great valid points that on many levels I agree with.

Good futures to HW and thank you for the good luck on the network. Hey make a page. Never hurts to keep on networking, you know that as well as me. Have a great Christmas Season man.

[Greg Chrise]

A few points

I would not object to a little adsense advertising on Hauntworld. Not that that $60 a month income would be keen but, it like what all of Chad Savage's or even Haunted Illinois, gets the page rank up there. The page rank on search engines is relative to wether there is advertising available and wether there is traffic to even require a page rank. Right now no one site stands out.

However, there are two main points about a new site coming on line every month. So far they all have a domain name but the content is the same that is on 5 to 10 other sites. The same pictures, the same blogs posts all linked to each other, nothing origional and unique when it is out there on 10 sites. All the 101 top search engines look at this duplication of content and kill your page rank.

Paying for a place on top of the search page works out to having to have money to make money and is mostly over looked as internet patrons know never to click on something that is is the sponsored/paid list.

My final point is so there are maybe 300 active viewers? We were supposed to all rally at Myspace, then Hauntspace or Vampire freaks and now this one. If one really did all of this I'm sure there is a geek list with the NSA of people so nerdy to be compared with psychopath star trek fans. So much effort is being put forth to create the new ultimate community when the focus should be on creating organic search engine traffic from the world at large, not the same people.

Maybe Johnathon's attempt will do this but, Hauntworld will remain the place to look up current haunted events to visit.

What is happening is there is a fracturing of everyone in groups relative to what state that there are more haunts located in, like Ohio, the Midwest and there are about 4 people trying to do something (unsuccessfully) with Texas.

It is the same stuff over and over. Internet wise I guess all haunted attractions are located in Ohio? (just as an example) Everything outside of that region are just not as passionate.

In the real world, haunts are doing quite well with signs that look like fruit stand plaquards. In a way it is expected behavior or was. The 30 year cycle of not having to advertise and they will come is over. Now as an industry as a whole it then becomes which of the 50 new sites favors your paid listing or banner ad?

I guess in 50 years when a couple of people die, these sites will all take off.

So much work is being done. So much investment is being made but, it is canceling each other out.

All I can say is Johnathan you might want to rethink having 552 pictures that are not origional content if you want to be ranked anywhere on the first 3 pages of any search engine and good luck. I love the pictures but, mechanically these are the same pictures available on HAM, Sinister Circuit, Transworld sites, and so many others. There will never be any data because there is no origional content to earn merit.

I know it is the new hot thing on Good Morning America. Grandma wasn't making it on social security and now makes $20,000 on line. Perez Hilton has a picture of someone's big butt and makes $70,000 a month. How to make money on line blogs, only about 4 of them now make $30,000 a month. The haunted attraction thing is far below a niches market ( just because it is seasonal ) and we now have 50 sites to patronize with only that many people really engaged?

On the find a haunted house side it will just increase the number of listings and the number of checks one must right to be sure you are on them all.

I'm not an SEO expert but, I am sitting back wondering why why why. If any of it really made money we should indeed all be doing it with origional content and bumping each other up in a positive way but, I'm not seeing a new crowd coming in and staying. Unless they are destined to be on that NSA list of 300 questionable motived individuals.

And like Myspace, you are only going to go where your one or two freinds are. If you generate 23,000 names your file will be dumped. If you create a group that has more independent traffic than the organic joining of this or that group it will be cut off to protect those sites that do have independent advertising or banner income. Again canceling out the usefulness as an industry or as true freinds listings.

I dunno.

[Barry]

Greg,
I may be missing your point in all of this but the website isn't about advertising or page rank. If you are referring to the Google Ads on the site, they come with the networking package offered by the provider.

[Greg Chrise]

I want everyone to prosper. I don't want to knock anyone but, somehow there needs to be a little spin on why is this a good thing? Why is this site or that site worth the communities time. They are all being slipped in there just waiting for something to happen like they are the competition rather than the compliment.

I think it is terrible shame if the ads are only supporting the provider. Of course it might not be worth creating a complete template without a great quantity of users. But, that is my point. Where are the users to come from. How many places can those users go trying to find something happening?

At one point a few years ago there was a full post page of Myspace sites for us all to connect. That's great. I now get announcements of what is happening 1500 miles away on a weekly basis. This is all there was to this experience I'm afraid. How is this concept so much better?

How do more and more sites with different resources benefit a limited number of users.

My point might in fact be, what's the point? Where can it go, how can we all get behind any more sites, how do they all network together. How do they prosper and as a result not be just more half committed bandwidth.

Maybe it is just me? I already have no time to have a life and now you want me to have freinds?

Why is this different than Hauntspace beyond someone else is running it? Why did Hauntspace not provide for everyone beyond the fact that I'm not there?

I'm sure there are no answers or a press release and I'm not demanding and explaination but, this is a good place to discuss how they can all work together, really focus resources a certain direction and make everyone on every level prosper beyond it's fun to be all over the internet. It makes us retards feel so powerful.

[Jim Warfield]

I see a haunted web site as often just entertainment in and of itself for many people browsing. People who will never get in a car and come find your place.
I do know though that my web site and Adam's Hauntedillinois .com bring people here all the time. Of course there is the added advantage/factor that most of these people started out in Illinois which makes coming here somewhat easier than say, coming here from Paris, France or India.
Maybe I should start a web site "hauntedcarrollstreetmt.carroll.com", everyone seeing it who lives on Carroll Stret in Mount Carroll would then have No excuse for Not coming here , unless they married a breeding rabbitt-type woman.
(The only excuse permissable)
I may have to have two of them for Carroll Street since there are North and South Carroll Streets!

[Greg Chrise]

Then of course there would be Mount Carroll Groups for the East side and west side of the street and sub groups for south east, south west, north each north west and you could have a Utoob competition to see who can do the best West side story broadway musical gang fight production using little heards of ducks wearing colors.

Maria! I just met a duck named Maria!

[Barry]

Greg,

I don't have any problem with the ads going to the provider because, in this case, they are doing the hosting as well.

You mentioned the 300 users and the splintering. I am surprised Larry hasn't jumped on you for that one seeing as how HW has 3000 registered or something like that! LOL

I see it more as offering options to attract more people than splintering those we already have. We have had this discussion in the IAHA a few times - Forum or Yahoo group? There are benefits to both so we now offer both. Some prefer one over the other and some use both.

Personally I never got into Myspace. I found it difficult to use, impersonal, and bloated. It seems that this service has addressed some of the ease of use issues, and I like the fact that it is just haunters.

[Barry]

One more thing, you mentioned having the time to check all of these sites. I am in the same boat. There are many that I wish I could follow but can't but does that mean we should combine all of them into one? No! If I want to search out the experts on a topic, I will go to the forum that they frequent and get my answer there. That does not mean that I need to check that forum every day nor does it mean that they should all be combined into one mega site.

[Jolly Pumpkin]

Personally I like Haunt Universe. Unlike sites like Myspace, Hauntspace and Sinister Space, Haunt Universe focuses on just the haunt community. Plus the news that is available on their site is just haunt related. I get so many friend requests on the other sites from people who aren't involved in the haunt industry, that it's not even funny. It's easier to network on Haunt Universe with people who love and are involved with the haunt industry one way or the other.

[Haunted Illinois]

I agree with Barry on this issue. It’s all about options. If you go shopping for a television, would you be content with only one brand to choose from or would you prefer to browse a wider selection? It’s the same with websites in the haunt industry.

Greg, you make it sound as if all haunted house websites are exactly the same and I can’t agree with that point. While many haunt-related sites have a similar theme, most of them offer something at least a little different from the others. Some haunt websites have a national scope, while others may have a regional focus. No one website can offer everything. I just don’t understand how having more haunt websites can be a bad thing. Since everybody’s interests are slightly different, isn’t offering more choices a good thing? Besides, the more haunt-related websites there are, the more results show up when someone types “haunted houses” into a search engine. More websites means more internet exposure for haunts and a higher level of visibility of our industry to the general public. That is a good thing, isn't it?

…My point might in fact be, what's the point? Where can it go, how can we all get behind any more sites, how do they all network together. How do they prosper and as a result not be just more half committed bandwidth.

Well, I personally do what I can to promote the rest of the haunt industry. Don’t tell anyone, but I do this evil thing called link trades. LOL. Haunted Illinois’ link section provides the general public with hundreds of links to other haunt-related websites. On top of that, for years I have had a banners/links at the bottom of my event directory, encouraging people who couldn’t find what they were looking for on my site to go to Hauntworld.com and HauntedHouse.com . That’s what I am personally doing to help the industry. Maybe if more sites did that, we’d all be one big happy family? =)

[drfrightner]

Speaking of new sites like say Haunted Universe, the chances of it taking off are very, very, very, very slim. Whenever you have something that already exist and in this case myspace, or others who've tried to copy the myspace thing for a small segment of the world like haunters, it can only go so far and then it drops off the planet. I don't know why its needed, nor do I think people will sign up in many numbers or keep interested in it for long once it doesn't take off.

Personally I already think many people are getting tired of Myspace in general. The whole thing to me seems like a 'PET ROCK' fad that wears off after a while. I mean who really has time for this???

I remember a few years ago all these woman got into 'Scrap Booking', and all these people opened scrap book stores, now they're all closing. Why? FAD!

To scrap book you have to buy all this crap, you have to spend all this time cutting up pictures, then decorating them, all for what??? In the end people realize its easier to simply put the picture into photo book and end it right there.

With Myspace you making a page for what reason? So people can know what you're doing with your life??? C'mon... its a fad and it will wear off over time. I advertised on Myspace in 2006 and got really good results, I advertised in 2007 and got terrible results. Myspace traffic is still high but DOWN big time!

People kept saying the net was going to take over the World, but then it crashed, because people still want human contact, they want to try on their cloths, blah, blah. Who wants a social connection page, when you can have real social connections with a real person...I know who, people who have a lot of time on their hands.

Personally I think its a waste of time, it won't take off, but again what do I know? Its just my opinion.

Either way, as for message boards, we've all seen a lot of boards come and go... Barry mentions the IAHA board. No one uses it, I know there is that Horrorhaunting or whatever that is and no one uses that one either, there are a lot of them that don't get used. Haunted Attractions board gets some use, and has some different people over there from time to time, just like this one, so I guess more than one can be good.

I only check this one, because I just don't have time to read 50 million boards.

I think everyone who wants to do a site from Haunted Universe to Haunted whatever is free to do as they wish, and hopefully they have fun doing it. But I wouldn't expect them to succeed or make money, they should be more for just the fun of doing it because that is about all you're going to get out of something like that.

These board here help keep people connected, keeps you up to date on news, happenings, find things for sale, and more...that is about what they're good for. Yes, that helps your business. These boards seem to be helping people, and its free and anyone can post. Any other boards that come along hopefully will help people in the same way.

That is really all it's about.

Larry