merrygoround

In Your Web:
by Steve, Thursday, May 24, 2007

"So now, Ancestry.com is in deep doo doo. They're losing money. They spent a lot of money building stuff that they're users are not using. They have competitors, serious competitors, rising up in the ranks. They're focusing on building their brand, while their competitors are focusing on building market share.

Making things worse, their current marketing genius decided to dump 99% of their massive 30,000 affiliate base, and retain only the top 100 affiliates. So what do you think the rest of the 29,900 affiliates are going to do? They're going to promote Ancestry.com's competitors, of course.

The people at TGN are at point where everyone is in it for themselves, looking at the short haul and ignoring the big picture. They're using Ancestry.com has a stepping stone for greener pastures, and to fatten up their resumes. There isn't a concern for Ancestry.com's core competency, that simple little thing that made it so successful. They've lost sight of what genealogists want, and Ancestry.com's rivals, many of which are former Ancestry.com people from the old days, are zeroing in for the kill."

Free On Ancestry.com- was forced offline by The Generations Network, the parent company of Ancestry.com.

"So, we've taken the FreeOnAncestry.com site down, because The Generations Network is still the primary source of income on our flagship website, Interment.net. We can't afford to jeopardize that relationship. There just isn't another source of income that can provide us with the funds that Interment.net requires.

- Steve Johnson, Clear Digital Media, Inc."