Re: the cross pollination of ideas: how drawing monster's can increase web traffic

[joe_cogspa]

The idea started this way:
A friend of mine crated a web portal called Uphype.com.
His idea is simple, and many similar sites exist. Basically, you sell
a service for $8, $16 or $24 - something simple that can be done
quickly and stress free.

Since I like to draw monsters anyway I decided to sell them on his
site at: http://uphype.com/hype/draw-a-monster

My motivation was just to have fun (indeed, employed most concept
artists would make 10 times more than what I was asking).

At first I was getting no recognition, for a couple of weeks my uphype
job was dead - no hits (maybe the idea was too silly, who needs a
monster and for what?)
And then, bham! I got 2000 hits over night (how? I have no idea).

Customers started to buy my monsters... and this is were the cross
pollination began. For a minimal price ($8) I was loyal to them. I
gave them what they wanted and they loved my services. Friendships
formed. They saw me as a way to get cheap advertising. To them a
monster could be anything: logos, mascots, imaginary spokes people,
etc... .My clients included web developers, voice actors and body
builders. They all found creative, original ways to use monsters to
advertise their businesses. And the more we communicated, the more
their web traffic increased - I would post my jobs on blogs, twitter,
forums, and facebook - pointing to their website. My strange creatures
would get attention and draw more people to their sites.

So my message is this: don't give up on a silly idea. Find a social
network to leverage your talents, help others, and make a few bucks in
the process.

And don't be afraid of monsters - because monsters attract attention.