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We’re very close to the end of this contest, so it’s only natural that we should see where we’re at. By now, most of you have some great content going, you’ve been social bookmarking like crazy, and you’ve built up a link or two by commenting on other blogs. But, what now? Well… first, let’s get an overview of where you SHOULD be by now. If you aren’t here yet, there’s no rush… remember, it’s just a contest. If you think you can make more money by holding off another week or even a month, by all means… do so.
- Social Bookmarking - Every post on your blog should be submitted to at the VERY least StumbleUpon, and Digg. If you aren’t submitting these sites, you’re losing valuable chances to gain traffic, backlinks, RSS subscribers, and possibly even costing yourself money when you go to sell.
- Blog Commenting - Whether you are doing it the old fashioned way, or you are building your links a bit quicker using Bookmarking Demon, you should have some links by now. If you have less than 300 or so, you might want to reconsider selling. You’ll be lucky to get a couple hundred dollars. I try not to sell until I reach the 500-1,000 link plateau, but I’ve seen people have success with 300-500 links.
- Content - Remember, our target before the sell date is 30 posts. We want 30 posts, and at least one pillar article per week. Hopefully you are there, if not you can always backdate the posts like crazy. But make sure to get that UNIQUE content going. If you’ve been using PLR, it’s time to re-write your content. If someone spots duplicate content, your blog isn’t going to go for nearly as much.
- Rss Readers - What are you guys doing about Rss readers? I know they are hard to get, but did anyone come up with anything creative?
- Final Tweaks - I generally don’t go all out on my theme tweaks until I’m about ready to sell it. Just like selling a house or a car, you want your blog to look it’s very best when it goes up for auction. To do this, make sure you have a professional header, clean design, and you aren’t showing too many ads per page.
So we’ve got about 10 days left… what should we be doing?
I know most of you have been working pretty hard on these blogs, but it’s time to work even harder. The last week before these things go up for auction needs to be the most productive, and show the most results. Trends are important when selling a blog, so you want to make sure that all of your statistics are trending upward. You do this by giving it one last strong push the last week or ten days before the sale. A blog with an Alexa ranking that’s going up, is much better than one that has over-performed in the past, and is on it’s way down.
SUGGESTION - It’s completely up to you guys, and I know you’ve been working hard… but I don’t want to see you short-changed. There should be a PR update coming any day now (we’re over the usual 3 month mark), and you might consider holding on to your blog until the update happens. This will make it a bit more valuable to an investor. I know you’ll be missing out on some pretty cool prizes, but the update might be worth it. It’s really up to you guys… just a suggestion so that nobody feels duped when we get the PR update.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:22 am
I have noticed that some of my submissions are not going through on Stumble Upon. I am having some strange connection problems. Is there anything to IP blocking with them?
I also had some great success in the middle of the month (thanks to all of those who have stumbled me) but now I am down again. Any suggestions about a semi viral way to boost yourself just before you are ready to sell?
I also have bigger plans for this site, I am going to hang on to it for just a little while. I am taking offers for any designers who are interested in designing a Professor theme for me you can just leave a message here, or maybe Bryan will forward your email to me if interested.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 22nd, 2008:
I’m not sure what the problem with Stumble is Kip.
The only semi-viral suggestion I could give you is a great piece of link-bait right before the auction ends… coming up with that, is the tough part.
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July 21st, 2008 at 2:17 pm
I’m definitely in a position where I’ll be losing out on “potential” if I sold now, but I’m still on the fence. If everyone was going through with it, then I was going to as well just to “follow through with the contest”. So, we’ll see. Unfrotunately, I’ve been unable to squeeze in the amount of time I needed, but I tried hard! Regardless, I’m going to try and pick up the pace in the last stretch. All I really need is more traffic, backlinks, content, and revenue.
@Bryan: I’m interested in your take on auction sales pages for SitePoint. Especially on selling sites like these based on content/backlinks - assuming they have no revenue yet. Have you successfully sold many based on traffic/content? For more than a few hundred? Within 30 days?
Is there some advice coming in that regard?
@Coach: So, you’re not selling at the end of the month? Do you plan on keeping it, or just selling “later”?
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Bryan Clark reply on July 22nd, 2008:
Well, when you say you are losing out on “potential” you are right. The problem is that 100% of the blogs you sell will be losing out on potential. That’s why buyers want them. They take advantage of your hard work, and keep the blog longer term to see if “potential” even materializes. If they didn’t have that, nobody would buy these things.
As far as the second question… I generally get 800-1500 for 30 day old sites. That’s a general rule of thumb, which may or may not happen for some of you. As far as revenue, I’ve never sold a site with no revenue. So, I’m kinda curious on that one.
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Jay reply on July 22nd, 2008:
Ha. True. I should have phrased it differently: If I sell in 10 days, I might *potentially* lose out on a substantially bigger price tag by waitng only a *short period of time* longer (in the particular case of my green site)
Yeah, revenue - even a small amount - seems to make a huge difference in the sale.
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July 21st, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I have about 1042 backlinks according to DNScoop.
Around 45 aweber subs and about 70-100 rss subs (it fluctuates).
SO I am very happy… visitors have settled at around 200-700 uniques a day (need more) and when I get ideas I like writing for it.
So I am probably going to keep this one as it has a lot of potential for me.
I am earning about $3 average a day but overall I have earned about $70 or so (i think).
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Bryan Clark reply on July 22nd, 2008:
Good stuff Forest. If I were you, I might ride this one out and see where it takes me. You can always sell it later.
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Reggae Artists reply on July 22nd, 2008:
Outstanding effort Forest! I am so glad that you have decided to hang on to your site (I don’t blame you) and give the little guys a fighting chance at winning something.
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July 21st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
@ Jay
My site came about mostly because I had a bunch of PLR stuff on it already. I called it Professor Prosperity just because I needed something quick. I already had Professor Moolah that I had been toying with for about 6 months, nothing really serious. So I decided to do a whole bunch of Professor sites and wrap them into a large Professor Academy site that will of course offer paid lessons on all kinds of things. I also have several other Professor Domains that I will be using the same way. So that is the long answer
The short answer is no I will not be selling right away.
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July 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
@Forest: That’s impressive stats for less than three weeks my friend. Way to go!
@Coach: Nice. Look forward to watching your sites grow.
Well, even if everyone keeps their sites, we’ll all still benefit in several ways, even if not from the grand prize.
@Bryan: If everyone’s keeping their sites and I sell, do I win by default? lol
Also, what’s up for August?
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Reggae Artists reply on July 22nd, 2008:
You read my mind Jay! Winning by default might be my only chance with this one. Though if it came down to a head to head then I think you got me.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 am
LOL @ Jay.
I’m not sure what’s up for August. Maybe I’ll put up a poll and let you guys tell me what kind of content you want. How’s that sound?
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Jay reply on July 22nd, 2008:
Sounds good.
Don’t you have a membership planned as well?
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July 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 am
@ All: Great work so far… as I mentioned in one of my recent posts. I have fallen behind but do have a few tricks left up my sleeve so watch out for a strong finish on the home stretch. I think I will look to sell mine more out of intrigue than anything else. As it will be my first blog flip I need to set myself a bench mark.
@ Bryan: Another great post and thanks for the advice throughout this competition. I know we lost you for a little midway - due to your inability to duck a gayball - but I appreciate your efforts. I am up for some more fun and games in august so get that poll up when you are ready.
Oh, and I will be going stumbling crazy this last week so please feel free to reciprocate. I need all the help I can get.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 8:25 am
If anyone wants me to stumble anything share it with me in the toolbar…. first obviously add me as a friend… http://forest2008.stumbleupon.com/public/
I’m on all da most days so should see the stumbles as they come through.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I definitely WANT to sell, which more than likely means, mine wont sell.
I am really wanting more static sites, maybe an ecommerce shop, but no more blogs. I’m all blogged out. If i successfully flip this one, then i might create more, but only to flip it.
I’ve really been able to learn the process of blog creation, and the myriad steps involved. I’ve gotten myslef somewhat organized, which is good.
FOREST: Dude you have rocked it out the ballpark. Nice!
Coach Kip: I guess it comes down to how much time you have available for this new blog of yours. If you have the time to nurture and grow it, maybe make it more profitable. Then keeping it, might be best for you.
Jay: Yeah, i suppose if everyone didnt sell off, you would prolly win by default. LOL.
AP: We are in the same boat, i have some killar articles coming that should (well hopefully) become good killer linkbait. Give me a rise in traffic, and some pennies on Adsense. The end of the race is the BEST part.
Nobody give up. If you’re gonna go, go all the way, baby!
Bryan: Thanxs for the help and forum to vent, learn, grow & share.
To all: I notice no one else is using Adsense, why not? Which aff network do you prefer? And which social network site do you prefer?
Missy
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
Positivity Missy! I’m sure it will sell. It’s always a nerve-wracking experience putting these blogs up for auction. It never seems as though it’s going to sell for much, and then one day, BAM… someone uses the Buy It Now button.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Awww shucks, thanks Missy My site really did get a lucky start…. lets see where it takes me now…
Still I really wanna do a flip soon.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
Don’t worry Forest, flipping blogs isn’t going anywhere.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 am
Hi
Your blog is very informative n helpful .. thanks…..keep it up.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 9:46 am
I have a quick (domain and PR) question for all of you:
As some of you know a blog of mine was stolen from me, but i was able to recover the domain name from my registrar, Namecheap. The blog in question is a PR 2.
Is the name itself worth anything, or is it directly tied to the blog? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but i honestly dont know. And the reason i ask is because the domain name is coming up for renewal, and im wondering if i should renew it.
Please advise me guys.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
If it has PR, you should ALWAYS renew it. It’s not going to be worth much as a PR2, but it’ll be worth a bit more than you bought it for. My suggestion? Renew it, build a blog around it and flip that puppy!
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July 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
What you can sell it for depends on a few other variables, and not “just the Pagerank”. Is there a good keyword in the URL? Is it a .com extension/short/long? Does it come with the same blog/content that managed to get it PR2? How old is the domain?
I’m sure more ppl here would be able to go into more detail, especially if we knew the URL.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 10:18 am
Hi, Jay:
The URL is: http://www.GroovyEntrepreneur.com
The good keyword i supose is entrepreneur, it is a .com, it does not come with the blog content as it is no longer mine, the domain is over a year old.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
I would think it’d fetch a little bit. However, I’d still throw some content on it and sell it as a blog.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 10:54 am
Well, unless I don’t understand the situation correctly, the PR you have is based on the backlinks / content, and if you won’t have that anymore - associated with the domain - the PR would eventually drop anyway.
If you blogged about what exactly happened, send me the URL.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
She could always go throught he process of doing a backlink search, and replacing the content URL for URL. Might not be worth it though I suppose.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 am
I did blog about it on my biz blog, G34 Media.
Below is link to blog post, on what happened at Digital Point, on June 9th.
http://www.g34media.com/2008/06/21/g34-media-network-update-a-new-book-a-blog-theft-and-more/
It still pains me, when i think about it. But alas, nothing i can do.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Very interesting stuff going on. I must say, I have watched Forrest from the beginning and his growth is awesome. For some reason, I thought the site was a paid membership….hmmmm….I’ve been missing out on some good eats over here!
Well, PB promptly informed me about this site last night so, get used to seeing my mug around!
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Bryan Clark reply on July 23rd, 2008:
Excellent. Glad to see a new face JK. We’re a pretty good crowd here.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Cool, I see a few of my buddies around here, so it must be a great place. Glad to be here.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Alright. I will renew it. Thanxs a bunch for the feedback. It was very helpful.
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July 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Maybe I should install a chat feature…
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July 23rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I don’t know about chat, but I think maybe some type of forum where we can all regularly chime in on helping each other flip, buy, sell, paint toenails, etc.
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July 24th, 2008 at 5:40 am
I think a forum would be great. I really don’t have the time to be on all day, but with a forum i could definitely catch up soon.
Maybe a free forum with general topics and a paid one for us regulars with some good solid source information, and “insider” stuff.
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July 24th, 2008 at 7:35 am
So Kip wants good old inside information and Jay wants to paint his toenails…..LOL
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July 24th, 2008 at 8:34 am
I too vote for a forum. I think we all have loads of questions on a variety of things, within blogging and general MMO matters. Plus we can form an alliance, and help each other out with promo and whatnot.
I think since we (those listed above) are the most active and loyal members, we should be granted FREE lifetime access to such forum, and as such we will also help build it.
Forums are hard to take off, and activity is key. But a small forum designed for us (Bryan’s readers/fans) is also a good idea, it doesn’t have to be big.
Sounds good! I vote YES.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 24th, 2008:
Alright, alright, alright. I’ll get working on a forum! Let’s add that to the list of things I DON’T have time for….
I agree though, I think it’ll be a good way for you to interact with each other, and for us to all share some tips, stumbles, links, etc.
I’ll get on it!
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July 24th, 2008 at 8:36 am
Oops! toenail painting by men, is encouraged and welcomed. (please video-tize it) LOL.
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Jay reply on July 24th, 2008:
Hey! You Gotta look good when you’re flippin’ websites!
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July 24th, 2008 at 10:29 am
So, what’s the word on a forum
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Bryan Clark reply on July 24th, 2008:
OOOOH and the forum madness continues! I’ll work on getting something together, and maybe we can launch a forum next week. Sound cool?
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July 24th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Bryan, I’ve been reading this blog and checking in on the contest from time to time, and I feel like I’ve really learned a lot, not only about site flipping, but about backlinking strategies, some SEO issues, and so on. I’m intrigued by the site flipping scenario — who knows, maybe I’ll take the plunge and give it a try.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 24th, 2008:
All you can do is take the plunge! It’s all about taking action, working hard, and reaping the rewards my friend.
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July 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Just thought I’d let you all know that Matt Cutts says there will be a PR update coming through in the next day or two. Just in time for your sales!
Bryan, man, hit me up sometime! You seem to be rockin this site out.
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Bryan Clark reply on July 25th, 2008:
Thanks Ben. I appreciate the update!
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July 25th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Speaking of PR. I’m predicting SiteFlipU gets a PR2. I see things.
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July 26th, 2008 at 12:11 am
In deed it got a big fat PR2! Awesome job Bryan!
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July 26th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Good job Bryan. I also got me a PR2!!!
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July 26th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Looks like Frugal Zeitgeist got a PR jump too…. I jumped from the nasty grey bar to a whopping PR 0!!!!!!!!!!!!
If anyone could explain this to me I will be very interested in listening
Can I appeal to Groogle?
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July 26th, 2008 at 6:10 am
Oh and sorry….. Congrats on the PR Bryan
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July 26th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
@Forest: Congrats on the “upgrade”! GoGreen also went from grey to white!
The explantion is probably because Google (as far as Pagerank) didn’t know FrugalZeitgeist existed when you saw grey (no information available). Then, when you got “white” (a.k.a. zero), it means (as far as pagerank) Google now aknowledges you, but still needs to see more from you. From my understanding, the information Google is basing the PR on also could have been from weeks ago, even though the actual update in rank that you get/see was applied only a couple days ago. So, your site, as with the rest of the contestants, wouldn’t have looked too good at that time.
Keep doing what you’re doing, and I’m sure you’ll get a “green jump” next update.
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July 27th, 2008 at 9:36 am
@Jay… I guess it just means I gotta keep plugging away, cheers
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