Behind The Sites: A Mini Series Profiling Mac Webmasters
#6: Applelinks.com's Joe Ryan

by Joey Cooper

Applelinks.com is a directory/links/news site for Mac users. Their webmaster, Joe Ryan, took some time to talk to us last week.

Q: How did Applelinks.com come about?

About three and a half years ago, I found myself with over one hundred macintosh bookmarks. One Sunday, while watching the Jets game, I organized them into folders and then turned the folders into web pages. I had no intention of doing anything with the web pages. As a member of macconnect, they listed my homepage on their web site. Once listed there, my website traffic grew. At one point I was getting one hundred hits a day. This was amazing to me. Then I added daily news, more links and then registered the domain, applelinks.com. I submitted my URL to the major search engines, built a database to serve up all the mac links, hired three news editors, including John Farr, and we grew from there. Now we have ten writers, 600,000 hits a month and more than 10 thousand mac links.

Q: What's this MacLaunch site we keep hearing about?

MacLaunch is completely separate from applelinks. MacLaunch was an idea I had about two and a half years ago. I was frustrated with the lack of content for mac users on the major portals. I love the features that Yahoo provides, but I found myself going to six or seven different mac sites to get the news and info I needed. So what I wanted to do was make a Yahoo for the mac user. MacLaunch has the same online features as most major portals, like free email and personal web space, running on a Blue & White G3, powered by MacOS X server. There's free stock quotes and portfolio tracking, Macintosh-only auctions, news, discussion boards, chat, software updates, e-cards, plus a web directory, world, business, sports, health and technology news. MacLaunch will be adding some new features as well. It's a cool site; if you have a chance check it out.

Q: What do your duties at Applelinks.com and MacLaunch include?

The list of things I don't do at applelinks is shorter. I don't write, edit, do daily software updates or sell ads anymore. Basically I keep everything running - from writing code to payroll. At MacLaunch, it is a bit different. There are many more people employed at MacLaunch. Each of us has a specific area that we concentrate on. My area is geared towards content and site features. I also do tech support for the email server and such. We are currently looking to hire a web developer to free up some of my time for other things.

Q: What kind of computer setup do you have?

I think I'm the only person on Long Island with Ethernet in his attic. I have 2 G3's and a 7200. They are all networked and connected to a frame relay. The 7200 is just for serving up email. My G3 has 160 MB of Ram with a 9 GB external hard drive running OS 9.

Q: Your first Mac?

My first Mac was a Performer 600 CD with a blazing 33 mhz and 4 MB of Ram. It is now being used as a paper weight.

Q: Who else do you work with?

I work with some of the best writers on the web - John Farr, Paul Shields, Kirk Hiner, Paul Martellaro, Charles Moore, Brent Hecht, Del Miller, Gary Coyne, and an amazing editor, Charleen Becchina.

Q: What's your favorite part of working at Applelinks.com?

I like that I am on the edge of a new medium. John Farr calls us pioneers.

Q: Do you have a favorite Mac author or columnist?

I take the fifth on this one :-)

Q: Can you give us any hints of surprises coming in the future?

We have many deals in place at the moment, but nothing is final. You should be hearing something in the coming weeks.

Go ahead and give AppleLinks.com a visit... thanks for your time Joe!

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