I've had a few massive flops through the years. We just had another one.
I own a keyword rich domain, ranks OK. I put up what is effectively an affiliate site on it. Nobody buys, because the order system from the vendor is atrocious. You can't even begin to imagine. So my wife decides I'm to push the site and rebuild the entire order system from scratch, but done right. So I'll capture the orders then manually enter them into the vendor's system. Vendor is OK.
Spend thousands on development. Project still isn't done - two more gotchas just surface in the development (my fault for not planning, not the developer).
Add in that I don't believe in the product (don't own it myself). When people call me about it, I basically convince them it's not a good idea financially. 2 years later, it appears this isn't a profitable strategy.
So I've got a product I don't believe in, and staring down the face of thousands more to complete the development to even make it viable online. And I was only doing all this because my wife thought it was a good idea. At breakfast this morning we agreed to cut our losses and move on - and spouse agreed.
But! good news is, the keyword domain can fit TWO products. And the second product I believe in, I previously worked as a technical expert at a manufacturer and has a huge market. I've just not moved into the market because I was focusing on other stuff. Not anymore, the domain is starting to get reworked today for the new product. So massive flop turns into huge potential!
Anyone else have any spectacular failures?
