Not to be negative, but by MY calculations that adds up to approximately $13,000 in annual revenue per BackFence site. They are obviously spending a lot more than that on each site, every year, on staffing alone. $164,160 is one site manager’s salary!

I get email from BackFence, and I look at their on-line paper. While the editorial is ….OK, I don’t see much prime space available for more ads on the site’s pages. It’s definitely VERY limited. Plus who knows if the current advertisers will renew when they are told the "real" rates, as opposed to the "introductory" rates they are no doubt paying now? I just see red ink all the way out.

And what happens in a year or two when the newspapers finally pull their heads out of the sand, copy BackFence and build their own micro-sites in their back yards? Newspapers have massive promotional ability, can cross-sell into their other media properties, and have a highly experienced sales force. If BackFence ever starts making money in a market, the local monopoly newspaper will simply build its own microsite(s), offer BackFence advertisers their ads for free, plus a discount in the print product or for ads on the paper’s primary website and that’s the end of BackFence in that market. Gone in 60 seconds.

http://www.southland.la/ (regional classified ads in Southland)
http://www.anaheim.la/ (city classified ads – Anaheim)
http://www.burbank.la/ (city classified ads – Burbank)
http://www.longbeach.la/ (city classified ads – Long Beach)
http://www.losangeles.southland.la/ (city classified ads – LA)
http://www.malibu.la/ (city classified ads – Malibu)
http://www.orange.la/ (city classified ads – Orange)
http://www.pasadena.la/ (city classified ads – Pasadena)
http://www.riverside.la/ (city classified ads – Riverside)
http://www.sanbernardino.la/ (city classified ads – San Bernardino
http://www.santamonica.la/ (city classified ads – Santa Monica)
http://www.ventura.la/ (city classified ads – Ventura)