So what’s in the cards for me?

Well, I need a brain-break!  I’m going to be vacationing until January and then in January I’ll be making a move to a new country… MEXICO!  We’ve just put a deposit down on a wonderful house that’s right on the beach in a popular tourist destination in Mexico.  It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do, so why not take advantage of it now that I have the money, and the ability to work from anywhere in the world?

Once we get settled (mid-January) I’ll start up a new site and I’ll be sure to let you guys know where I’m hiding.  I figure the break will be good for everyone involved, I get to take a break, and come back more refreshed than ever!

SiteFlipU was a great experience for me, and it turned out being even more helpful and profitable than I had ever imagined.  I have several people that I helped kick start into full-time incomes, and those kind of stories are really what keeps me going.  Keep moving forward, and you’ll be the next to join them!

The new owner is a great guy, and he intends to keep some really solid information coming your way through the pages of SFU, and he’s going to continue to market BFB while I take care of the questions that may come up for the new members.

I can’t wait for my vacation, and I hope that all of you keep in touch with me.  My skype name is onemansgoal and I’m on there all the time.  Send me a message, let’s chat!

Kind of ironic isn’t it?  Flipping a website that teaches people how to flip websites?  But don’t worry, I won’t be gone for long!

Domains

Fresh Drop - My favorite place to find some wonderful domains.  You can sort and view them in several different ways, and I almost always find what I’m looking for here.

eBay - A lot of people didn’t know that eBay sold domains… they do!  You can find some great domains on here for really cheap prices, and you can also find some mediocre ones for less than the cost of a normal registration!  Good source!

Digitalpoint - Nothing great usually, but always worth searching.  Some cheap finds here!

Sitepoint - More expensive, and higher quality domains.  Some pretty good stuff here usually.

Sedo - The best of the best when it comes to premium domain names.  For daily finds, I like eBay and Fresh Drop better.

Domain Generators

Bust A Name - Can’t think of a domain name?  Enter your keywords and let bust a name do the rest.

Name Boy - Ditto!

Hosting

Hostgator - DuH!!!!

Link Building

Bookmarking Demon - My favorite tool on the market!

Fast Blog Finder - A great way to find blogs that are relevant to your niche to comment on.  Plus it has the added benefit of being able to sort by nofollow/dofollow and pagerank!

Do Follow Diver - A great tool made by our friend Breakaway.  This tool allows you to search for do follow blogs based on the keywords you enter.  It also searches to see if they have “top commentators” or “comment luv” plugins installed.

Article Submitter - Just what it sounds like.  Write an article, submit to multiple directories at once.  Great tool, and a really great source of high PR backlinks.

Directory Submitter - The same as article submitter, only for directories!

Website Values

Alexa - Booooooring, but valuable to compare one site against another comparable site.

DnScoop - Not even close to accurate, but it’s a great way to check links, pr, and Alexa all at one site.  This is good for an idea, but once again… I’d cross reference the figure with a site that you deem to be comparable.

Cwire - About as accurate of a website value calculator that I’ve come across.  Good work here!

Your Website Value - Not all that accurate, but pretty cool interface.

Cube Stat - Another really neat interface.

Marketplaces

Sitepoint - Obvious, isn’t it?

Digitalpoint - For cheaper sites.  I enjoy buying here, but I try to stay away from selling sites on Digitalpoint.

There are a ton of marketplaces, but why list the one’s that suck?

There are more crap sites on the market now than I’ve ever seen before, which is a good thing… for the rest of us.  These novice site flippers are going to burn themselves out by churnining out junk site after junk site that doesn’t sell, and doesn’t appeal to the buyers at the marketplaces their targeting.  Why is that good news?  Well, for one, the marketplace is SATURATED… let me clarify because I’ve been on record saying the complete opposite.  The market is saturated with junk, this is true, but the number of junk sites outnumbers that of quality by at least 10 to 1.  Know what this means?  If you are making quality sites, you are cashing in right now with the influx of junk.  So, while I don’t feel that the market is saturated as a whole, I do feel that there is too much junk out there.

Junk sites just make the quality sites that I, and many others that read this blog and belong to Blog Flipping Blueprint, create more valuable.  For example, I had a site that I sold recently that went for $3,100.  This site was worth about half that, and that’s fully what I expected to get.  Did I somehow snag a noob that couldn’t value a website?  Nope, I sold it to “National Lampoon”, the humor giant.  They obviously know their stuff, so how did I get double the value for this site?  It was quality.  And like it or not, quality is always worth paying for, especially when there is a marketplace full of junk.

I can’t wait for more and more of these novices to try to peddle their crap in the marketplace.  The people that make quality sites are only going to make more and more money.  When you look at crap sites all day, once you find a valuable one you are 100 times more likely to go after it, no matter what the asking price (within reason).  Are you following along?

The quickest and easiest way to improve value in a site flip is by using quality images.  From the header all the way down to having images within each post.  If you are trying to sell, you have to add some curb appeal. Don’t skimp on design… there are other ways to cut corners and save money, but cutting the design budget is almost always a no-no.

One of my favorite stories just happened recently.  A reader (who will remain nameless) emailed me and told me about a site that he listed on Sitepoint.  This was the third time he had to relist it, because he got no bites the first two times around.  So he asked me, “What am I doing wrong”.  The content was great, the domain name was solid, and the on page seo was wonderful.  He was asking $250 for this site, and it was about 30 days old.  Those of you that follow me on Sitepoint know, that I get $1,500+ on 30 day old sites, over 90% of the time.  So what was his issue?  Design.  The theme was free, and it looked like a Wordpress 1.5 theme.  Old, poor coloring, and a plain text header.  It was awful.  I informed him that if he got a professional header, changed themes, and then added an image to each post on the front page… he’d get double or even triple his asking price.

I’d like to tell you that this story has a happy ending, and it does, just not for the seller.  He refused to listen, relisted it a 3rd time… no bites and then he comes back to me with another email.  “Will you buy this site for $100?”… Absolutely!  I changed themes, added images to the 40 posts that he had on the site (all were 500+ words, and commissioned a professional looking header design.

Needless to say, I listed the site shortly after I bought it.  I put about 2 hours of work in on the site, and my total costs were around $180 after Sitepoint listing fees, and the purchase of the graphics, and the site itself.  48 hours later, the site is listed… and three hours after that - SOLD!  I’m happy to report that I sold that site for $2,000.  Maybe he should have listened?

Moral of the story, sell quality.  The market can be saturated with junk, and quality sites will always make you money.

Warning:  If you don’t like rant posts, you might want to check out another blog.

I don’t even know how to put into words what I’m feeling at the moment.  I guess I could call it disappointment, but I suppose it’s more than that.  I’ve had two refund requests for Blog Flipping Blueprint today (my first two), and I suppose out of the 100+ members we have, it’s not a bad percentage (industry average is around 3-5%, so I’m well under that).  But what aggravates me the most about these people is that they are so short sighted.  They’d rather recoup a $97 investment, than to actually TRY one or two of the methods offered inside.  The sad part is, they could recoup their investment, plus some, in just a few hours if they’d get off their butts and do something about it. Anyone remember the 24 hour challenge?  $147?  pffft… I made $1,600 in ONE DAY with that method.

Don’t get me wrong.  I appreciate 99% of my members, and they are wonderful… sharing info on the forums, posting success stories, answering each others questions… but there is that 1% that really irks me.  One of the greatest tools I offer on Blog Flipping Blueprint is the forums… you have me, 2 other mentors, and all the members that like to read, and learn from the questions you ask.  Out of 100+ members, how many have actually signed up for a FREE username at the forums?  Less than half.  Are you kidding me?

BOTH of the refunds today have logged into Blog Flipping Blueprint ONE time (no, not each… ONCE between the two of them).  Tell me that they were there to make money.  That’s like me giving Romeo and Juliet a once over and then saying I think I’ll exchange it for the next issue of Playboy. I’m getting great feedback from the members that are actually there to learn.  I guess others are wanting a magic button to push that makes it rain cash.

What makes someone think they CAN’T do something, before they’ve tried it?  I’ve never been that way, and I pity those that are.  I’m quite the opposite, I’ll always assume I CAN, until proven otherwise.  The make money online niche has become full of a bunch of whiney noobs wondering why they can’t make money online.  The reason?  You suck!  You aren’t willing to take advice,  you can’t handle criticism, and a new method?  Oh no… not for me… looks scary.

I’ve made $160,000 in front of your very eyes this year.  Is that not enough to make you think that it’s possible?  Do you really think I blog about site flipping for my health?  I’m trying to help… and until some of you out there are ready to open your mind, and think outside the box… I hope you are content with the $60 a month you earn currently.

The sad truth is, this is becoming less and less about money for me.  I’ve made more than my fair share, and I’ve been very fortunate.  I feel like it’s time to pass the torch to those that are willing to take it rather than wondering if it’s worthwhile.  That’s the difference between those that are going to make it and those that aren’t.  The successful will jump on an opportunity, while the others will wait and think about it to make sure that it’s the right opportunity.  By the time they decide, it’s passed them by.  I don’t need people like this in my site.  I don’t need your money, and I don’t want you bringing down my members that are already succeeding just a week into the lessons.  I’ve had several members make their first $500 the very first week of this course, and we’re just getting started.

Regardless of what happens, my members are going to continue to get quality posts day after day.  And if you think that I want your money bad enough for you to bring others down around you… think again.  I only want people that want to succeed, and are willing to step outside their comfort zone to do it.   Let me repeat that… I ONLY WANT THOSE THAT WANT TO SUCCEED.  If you don’t fall into that category, don’t even visit the landing page, you aren’t what I want.

This might have turned into a rant post, but that’s not entirely my intention.  I know that my readers here at Site Flip U are some of the smartest, friendliest, and most talented bloggers in the world.  Most of you are outside the box thinkers, and that’s going to take you FAR.  I’ve never owned a blog where the comments alone are enough to teach a newbie a thing or two about making money online.  I’d venture to say that the readers at Site Flip U are more intelligent, ambitious, and goal oriented than just about anyone I run into online.  I have no doubts about you guys, you all have more potential in one finger, than some of these people have in their entire bodies.  My challenge to you, is to not end up like these guys.  Don’t cast something off until you try it.  Don’t fall into the trap of only doing what you know.  Remember, the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward… and don’t we all want big rewards?  Step outside your comfort level and allow yourselves to be great.  You are the only one that can.

So basically, Ryan says that Site Flipping sucks, which is cool, but his reasons are more than a little puzzling.  I’m glad Ryan thinks it sucks, and personally, I wish all of you would write a similar post.  The more people that are turned off from doing this, the more money the rest of us make that are good at it.  I’ve got a few readers here that are already starting to make great money flipping sites, and I’m sure they’ll love all the bad press in the world about site flipping, I know I would.  Alright, let’s see why Ryan thinks Site Flipping sucks.  All of the points are direct quotes from his blog.

1.  No Genuine Connections

I’m sure that some of the readers of this blog would disagree.  I spend a lot of time outside of this blog talking to people that I met here, or on previous projects.  I guess he means you don’t make any connections on the blogs that you sell, which is ok by me, that’s why I have a flagship blog.  Besides, I tend to focus on niches, so I’m not sure I’d be connecting with old ladies that enjoy my knitting blog.

2.  Doesn’t Build

This is the only valid point he made during the entire blog post.  He’s basically saying that blogs build incrementally and that you are selling yourself short by selling them instead of building them.  However, the internet is a here today, gone tomorrow type of world.  Get while the gettins good!  MMO blogs are popular now, but obviously a saturated niche.  How much more MMO talk can the blogosphere stand before it implodes and swallows all these noobs that have never made any cash, but want an MMO blog?  It’s the same for every other niche, just because your blog is growing now, doesn’t mean that it’s gonna keep growing.  Age doesn’t equal dollars in the blogging world.  I’ve seen established blogs that are 3-4 years old that go for less than my 30 day flips.  It happens all the time.  Niches die, people move on to other things.  I guess nobody else noticed that you tend to get waves of commenters that stick around a couple of months before you are overwhelmed with new faces eager to fill their spots.  It’s a fickle market, so the whole “selling yourself short, you should be building” argument doesn’t hold water with me.  Besides, I’m an internet marketer, not just a site flipper.  I never recommend putting all your eggs in one basket, and that’s why I have blogs that I’m building for the long term as well as the flips.  You should do the same.

3.  Market Is Overcrowded

Is that why I have a 90%+ rate of getting the buy-it-now price on my auctions within 24 hours?  Can’t be that saturated.  Plus, site flipping is in it’s infancy.  It hasn’t come close to market saturation.  I NEVER struggle to sell a site, so that tells me that the marketplace is just fine.  Maybe our buddy Ryan had a crappy experience or two, eh?  You are going to see explosive growth in this industry in the next few years.  Every investment platform is going down the craphole, yet websites are only getting more expensive, trust me, people aren’t blind to that fact.  Want to argue that point?  How else could I sell 5 sites in 24 hours for $1,600?  These were brand new sites mind you!

4.  No Recurring Income

I guess I should quit counting the $3,000+ in recurring commissions I make monthly then.  Most of which came on affiliate sales from blogs that I was getting ready to flip, or for recommending a hosting account for the new buyer, and using my affiliate link.  Plus, I’m starting to make some pretty good recurring income by selling hosting space on my reseller account to people that purchase my blogs.  It’s convenient, nothing has to be moved and people eat that stuff up.

5.  I Don’t Enjoy It

Finally, the truth comes out.  Ryan doesn’t enjoy it.  It’s not for everyone Ryan, and obviously it’s not for you.  But that’s not to say that others can’t make great money in this industry.  You could have ended the post by saying you don’t enjoy it, and left all the other stuff out.

I guess I should probably tell you now, I have no ill-will against Ryan, and this isn’t an angry post.  It’s just meant to debunk the crap that’s floating around by novice site flippers, who gave it a try and failed miserably, only to blame the technique.  I suck at PPC, does that mean that it’s not an effective way to make money? No way.  I know guys making 70k a month just using PPC ads and affiliate programs.  So, just because I suck at it, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work.

I guess the true reason I wrote this post is that I’m tired of the people that want to state that a method is crap, or that it sucks, when in reality, it’s you.  People don’t make money because they don’t have the adversity to stick it out when times are rough.  Neal is my favorite example. He put a ton of work into his first blog flip, only to make $100.  Did he give up?  Nope, he hit the ground running.  Now he’s becoming quite the site flipper.  That’s what sets people like Neal apart from the people that will never make a living online.  Neal handled adversity, and moved on to make quite a bit of cash by moving forward, rather than writing a post about how bad site flipping sucks.

Ryan, that’s not the way to make money online.  If you want to get to the point of making a full-time living at home, you’re gonna have to keep plugging away at things, even if you crash and burn the first few times out.  Think twice next time before saying something sucks.  Is it really the “something” that sucks, or is it the fact that you couldn’t do it?

I lost $1,300 on my first site flip, if I had given up then, I would still be living in a crummy apartment grinding it out at a 9 to 5 for a paycheck.  I guess my $163,429.11 in site flipping income over the past 12 months isn’t enough to prove to some people that the method isn’t broken.  Keep plugging away Ryan, don’t be so quick to give up on things.

Hope everyone had a good time. See you guys next week!