How Zergnet Dominated the Traffic Widget Game
Zergnet is a successful new startup business that was founded in 2011. Co-Founder and CEO Reggie Renner formerly worked as a lead developer in the startup industry and then made the decision to begin one of his own. He brings his expertise in software development into the business with a knowledgeable approach to monetization of website traffic.
Zergnet has its base in Indianapolis. The company makes content recommendations for website owners with a focus on helping them to reach a broader target audience. Their editorial suggestions have gained in popularity and they have become the leader of the pack as the top editorial recommendations platform that exists on the internet. The goal of Zergnet staff is to deliver high quality suggestions with one hundred percent purity in editorial content.
What do they do?
Zergnet promotes one hundred percent relevant content that avoids the use of any information that is misleading and they screen to ensure that no distasteful offers are made. They glean resources from other top rated publishers to ensure that the content is suitable. Expert editors are on staff to approve each article by hand so it will meet with the preferences set by your editorial team. This is done before the articles appear on your website. Once Zergnet takes possession of the content, it is optimized using the their algorithm that is designed to provide pure content. Some of the partners save thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars from receiving millions of free clicks each month, eliminating the cost of audience acquisition.
How successful has Zergnet been?
The company currently recommends over a billion articles each day and they net approximately three million visitors a day. These viewers are visiting premier content sites which include News Corp, Viacom, Time Inc, AOL, IAC, CBS, NBC, Warner Brothers and many more. The volume that Zergnet deals with on a daily basis is proof of the overwhelming success that they are currently experiencing.
Who does Zergnet send to your site?
The goal is to only send users who will be highly engaged and genuine. They acquire them from trusted partners which are sent to your site. Reports from partners reveal that there is a high audience return rate over other acquisition channels. They have worked hard to establish a solid reputation for delivering high on solid and pure content and their efforts have paid off. The evidence is in the traffic that enters and exits through Zergnet each day.
How did Zergnet raise money?
Zergnet founders began by offering a new and appealing way for publishers to increase site traffic and then monetize it. What made them different was their approach that refused to include the rash of distasteful sponsored ads that most of their competition relies on. Their target audience was ready for this refreshing new tactic and it simply followed logic that they would gain them as clients. The other thing that they did the right way was to join with the right publishing partners. Fox, Wenner, Rodale, Warner Brothers, AOL, Time, Conde Nast and Viacom are not slouches. Reggie Renner was in the perfect position to close funding from Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Greycroft Partners, Mark Cuban and Lerer Hippeau Ventures to the tune of 3.2 Million USD.
What does the future hold for Zergnet?
Their current business model focuses on building their technology base, distribution of their services and building vital relationships. Zergnet currently sends their partners in excess of a hundred million visitors per month. Their goal for the future is to double this number. They plan to continue offering free services for publishers in their network, but they are also looking at ways to offer premium options as well.
Renner sees the company continuing to built its infrastructure to maintain the edge that they currently have with competitors. They realize that there are some very large and popular companies out there doing what they do, but Zergnet has taken the road less traveled and realized immediate success. They are working on the addition of more consumer facing tools for utilization of their data and editorial processes. They currently process more than ten thousand article recommendations per second and they cover the gamut of major verticals. One of their future goals is to enhance Zergnet.com so it will be a more personalized destination site that will allow visitors to identify the most awesome content possible.
Final thoughts on Zergnet
Their approach is fresh and new and the future indeed looks very bright for their continued success. Renner seems to be a purist at heart with complete and unwavering confidence in the company, their staff and in the business model that has worked so well for them to date. His plans for the future of Zergnet follow the same logic that was used at its inception and through out its evolution. It’s obvious that the strategies that the team employ are working very well. We’re looking forward to the expansion of Zergnet’s services which will offer yet more benefits, so long as the premium services aren’t out of reach for their audience. We have a strong feeling that they’ll be in line with what is considered to be reasonable.
Conclusion
Zergnet is the company that has stepped outside of the traditional marketing box and resisted the urge to attempt to pull in quick money from the millions of spam publishers peddling their wares. They’ve taken a solid stance on quality and we believe that this is a major contributor to their tremendous success.
