AMATEUR RUNNER SELLS LINKS TO FUND TRAINING

An amateur runner is looking to fund his running career by auctioning off Internet advertising space on his homepage (http://www.linkexperiment.com). Brandon Rowe, 23, a psychology major who graduated from Haverford College in 2004, has been looking for creative ways to fund his passion for running since he graduated.

His Link Experiment features 100 links on the homepage auctioned off to the highest 100 bidders. When a new link is added, the lowest link on the page falls off. Companies can choose where on the page they want their link to show up based on how much they bid. “The page started off with a minimum bid of $.01 and it has grown a lot since then. The current high bid is $75 and the minimum bid is $0.99,” Brandon said.

He explained that most amateur runners have to take on a full-time job, which can really affect their training. “Every other graduate in my training group works a normal job, and it definitely takes a toll on their training,” he said. Brandon decided he wanted to dedicate himself completely to his training, and he believes his Link Experiment is the answer he’s been looking for.

In the three months the Link Experiment has been running, he has sold $871 worth of links. “I believe that the Link Experiment is only going to grow from here. The page will only become bigger as it receives more money and I’m selling a couple links a day at this point. I think the second $1,000 will come much quicker than the first $1,000 has,” Rowe explained.

Rowe’s website ( http://www.linkexperiment.com ) features 100 links sold to the highest bidders. The site was launched on May 15th, with a starting bid of a penny for a link.