I’m going to be away for the weekend, so I thought it would be a great time to offer up my wonderful course, The Blog Flipping Blueprint for only $97 while I’m gone.  I’m offering this for the next 20 members only, or until the weekend ends… which ever comes first!

If you missed out last time we had the course offered for $97, don’t let it happen again!  It’ll go back to it’s normal price of $147 on MONDAY!  Affiliates, it’s a great time to make a push for the discounted price!  You wan’t that iPod don’t you?

We now have 38 lessons (and lots more to come), 2 FULL blueprints, and a great forum with over 60 active members.  That’s not to mention the bonuses, which are numerous.  Get in while you still can!

This is your LAST CHANCE to get in for only $97.  The price will go back to $147 on Monday, or after the next 20 members sign up.  Don’t miss out, you won’t see this price again!

Choosing a niche is all about finding something that’s profitable to sell.  Leave your own feelings out of it, they don’t have anything to do with what’s profitable.  You have been told since you started blogging to write about a topic that you love, well, now I’m telling you to throw that information out the window.  You no longer care to write about your favorite topic, now it’s time to find topics that are relevant for others, and profitable too!

I can simplify niche research into one simple question.  What have you been hearing about?  If you’ve been hearing about it, it’s almost guaranteed to be profitable enough to create a flipper site about.  Some great starting points, green/environmental issues, the election, gas mileage, etc.  These are topics you hear about every single day, and that’s most of what you need to be successful in choosing a niche.

People tend to make things a lot more complicated than they are.  If you are hearing about it, it’s profitable enough to sell.  It’s that simple.

Now, where do you go for ideas?  I recommend magazines.com.  This is a great resource that shows not only the worlds most popular magazines, but also features dozens or even hundreds of smaller, niche-type magazines.  If you are looking for an idea, you can’t go wrong by browsing these pages.  Remember, if someone is printing a magazine about it, that means there are readers interested in buying it.  If there weren’t, the magazine wouldn’t be in business long.  Anything that has a magazine topic, is generally ok to sell.  Need ideas?  Browse that site, and you’ll have tons!

One of the most overlooked functions of Sitepoint is the ability to search through completed auctions.  When buying and selling websites, it’s imperative to have a general idea of what the going rate for a particular type of website is.  As they say, the money is made when you buy the website, not when you sell.  You really can’t be effective at either, unless you know how to research the marketplace.

In the top right corner of the Sitepoint marketplace is the juicy little bar with the words “Search” next to it.  You can do a general search, which involved just typing in your keywords, and hoping for the best, but the real gem is the “Advanced Search” function.  This is key, because it allows you to search not only keywords, but it has filters in place.  I like to sort my auctions by type (auction, not classified ad), and I only want to view auctions that are “won”.  That keeps me from having to dig through a million sites that didn’t sell.  I’m really only interested in knowing how much it could go for, not finding out how many listings didn’t sell.

You can use this function to find out exactly how much that sweet deal would go for on the only marketplace that matters.  You might find that your sweet deal, is more like a sour apple!  Always do your homework.

Why Do I Think It’s The Best Reseller Hosting Program Online?

Hostgator offers reseller hosting starting at a measly $25.  On top of that, each account comes equipped with it’s own cpanel, fantastico, and a great library of one click installs.  But let’s get past the reseller web hosting hype for a second, and move into why you actually need one to be a successful site flipper.

When flipping sites, you have three main options to host websites that you’ll be flipping quickly.

1.  Set up a hosting account for each site flip. $7 is another expense that really adds up to the site flipper.  I flip a dozen or so of these a month, and it costs me roughly $150 monthly for hosting when I used to set up an account for each flipper blog.  That’s flat out crazy, when you consider that you can have your own dedicated server for close to that price.  It simply wasn’t working for me anymore, and I needed a better option.  So I tried option two.

2.  Sign up for a big hosting account. I first tried a $70 a month semi-dedicated server.  It had a TON of space, and it was exactly what I was looking for.  The problem?  I had all of my sites hosted on that server, and it quickly became a jumbled mess.  At least when I had a new hosting account for each site, I had my own dashboard to go along with them.  I could backup, transfer, and install new things from the dashboard of each hosting account, now I had to do it manually.  It was a bit of a learning curve, but I eventually mastered this as well.  The problem was that for someone that sold sites as often as I did, it quickly became a mess.  The server became cluttered, and I started to be unsure of what I needed on there, and what was just a left-over that I forgot to delete after selling and transferring a site.  This option flat out sucked.

3.  Setting up my own reseller account. Perfect, except, I had no clue how to do this.  I set up a reseller account, and I really have no intention of hosting other people’s website, although it’s always a possibility now.  Hostgator walked me through the basics, and I really commend the customer support team for spending an hour with me on the phone until they were sure I understood exactly what I was doing.

So what are the perks of having a reseller account?  Well, first off, I can create and delete hosting accounts at will, all for a set price each month.  With Go Daddy hosting, it took an hour or two for them to set up a new hosting account on their end, and then another hour if I wanted to utilize the one-click install of Wordpress.  Now, I can have a new hosting account, with Wordpress, installed in less than 5 minutes, and it really is simple.  Instead of a tangled web of leftovers on a server, I can backup and then delete a site right after I sell it.  Then, I just start a new one.  No more issues of a cluttered, messy, confusing server.  What’s even better, is that I have my own dashboard (cpanel) for each one.  I can utilize one-click installs, db backups, and lots more - right there from the dashboard.  I no longer have to mess with my server at all.  It’s been a breeze, and I wish I would have tried it sooner.

So what are you waiting for?  If you honestly want to be a site flipper, this isn’t a luxury… it’s a necessity.  You have to spend money to make money right?  Go check out Hostgator Reseller Hosting.  If you don’t agree that it’s the best webhost reseller program online, you can always switch back.  They offer a 45 day refund policy if you aren’t satisfied.

What did you get out of it?  A solid tip that you can use to make $100 a day, with very little work.  How many of you take advantage of my tip is up to you, but I sure hope you take my advice, because it’s a SUPER profitable system to deliver $100’s of dollars in sales, each and every week.

The results of my experiment?

79 new newsletter subscribers!

I’m  happy that the experiment worked, and I think due to the success of this one, I’ll start offering some pretty profitable secrets that are only available to newsletter subscribers.  It’s a great way to reward those that take the leap of faith and trust you not to spam their inbox with meaningless garbage.  Others can verify, that’s not how I do things.

So was it curiousity?  Mouth watering headline?  Fear of missing a great tip?  What led you to subscribe to my newsletter, and will you be using the method that I sent out?  If not, can you at least grasp the money making potential?

In the Blog Flipping forums I recently addressed a question from another user regarding the usage of expired domains in site flipping. This is something that I’ve had huge success with and, due to the fact that I have nowhere to post right now (following the sale of the affiliate post), Bryan has given me the chance to voice my experience here for you all.

“If you are creating a blog from scratch to flip, what is the general thought on buying a pre-existing domain to use vs. a brand new domain?”

In answer to that question I must point out that I use expired domains wherever possible; I prefer them to new domains as, if you do your homework, you can pick up a domain that has instantly more value than a new one. You see an aged domain has value! That’s right…all those old domains you have that you never get round to doing anything with are ageing and, like most things in life, with age comes value. No doubt you all heard about the guy who bought pizza.com back in ‘94. He did nothing with the site other than pay his registration fee every year and recently sold the domain for $2.6 Million!

There are several factors that aid the value of the domain alone and here is a quick list. Not by any means definitive…but for any new people it’s a good overview of what to look for:

• AGE - The older the better!
• DOMAIN - Is it a short, snappy, memorable name? ‘ABC.com’ is infinitely better than ‘thelongestdomainnameinthewholewideworld.com’
• SUFFIX - For any poker players out there you will understand this example - a ‘dot com’ beats a ‘dot info’.
• PR - Does it have any?
• LINKS - Again, does it have any? and more importantly where are they coming from?
• HISTORY - There are a whole host of things to look for here such as is banned from Google? has it ever been used for porn? Does it have existing traffic? Etc etc

Buying Expired Domains

So, you know what you are looking for, how do you go about it? Well I follow somewhat of a set process for searching out domains and the routine I follow is something not too dissimilar to this:

1. Sign up for TDNAM - There are many others like it but this is my expired domain market of choice. Best $4.99 I ever spent!
2. Log in and search for your keywords of choice - this can be done with domains beginning with or containing your keywords. I am assuming that you have done your research here of course!
3. Sort your expired domains - I normally sort them by current estimated traffic by clicking on ‘traffic’ twice to get them from high to low. Each to their own but this works for me. One of the reasons I am looking for expired domains is instant traffic so it makes sense right?
4. Seek your expired domains - I usually start by showing 500 domains on one page and scanning to see if there are any big traffic pullers that fit my budget. I also look for what I call ‘stand out’ domains, or those that grab my attention.
5. Spot check your expired domains - This is where I will do quick checks on anything that takes my fancy. Usually by using dnscoop I will have a look to see if the domain has any of the attributes I mentioned above.
6. Watch your expired domains - Having missed out on some great domains before I recommend you ALWAYS do this. Just check the ones you like and add them to your ‘watching’ list. I often add domains that I just want to see what it sells for…it never hurts to watch the market!
7. DUE DILLIGENCE - Don’t ever jump into buying anything; I cannot stress this one enough! As mentioned earlier, check the domains history as thoroughly as you possibly can. Using iwebtool ‘Google banned checker’ is a good place to start. Do some relevant searches on Google and yahoo which will always give you some info on the domain. If I have a load in my watch list from my first round of vetting then this is where a great number of domains that looked good initially will fall down. Check, check and check again.
8. Buy Your Expired Domain - More often than not I will wait till the auction has less than 24hrs to go before bidding. Again, this is probably nothing more than personal preference but I hate the time I waste checking on the bid status. By waiting you can also see if there is any interest from other parties.
9. Last Minute Advice - Don’t go over what you intend to spend. There are many other domains out there so just stick to your budget. I have never spent more than $30 on a domain so far and have still managed to pick up some really great PR2-PR4 domains. If you are on a budget then start by searching the closeout sales for $5 domains.
10. JOB DONE - Congratulations, you just bought an expired domain. You will be required to wait for the ‘grace period’ to elapse - whereby the current owners do still have time to rescue their beloved domain. I have never lost a domain in this fashion though so start preparations for your new domain name.

Using Expired Domains

“If you are creating a blog from scratch to flip, what is the general thought on buying a pre-existing domain to use vs. a brand new domain?”

For those that think I have gone off track here do not fear. There is a simple answer to this question and the general thought is good - especially if you are using said domains for flipping.

It is hard not to see how much value can be added to a site flip just by using an expired domain. This is not to mention that if you have a 30 day old domain it would look funny to a potential buyer if you had more than 30 days of content on the site, whereas with an expired domain you can always backdate the content and fully utilise the age of the domain. I have done this on the past and with 30 days hard work, instead of selling a one month old site, I sold a one year old site. You don’t need me to tell you the financial rewards were much better too!

I will draw this to a close (for fear of bogarting Bryan’s limelight) but just so you know, I have a follow up post in the making about ‘How To Make Money With Expired Domains’. All that remains for me to say is don’t forget to leave your comments and, if you have not done so already, check out the forums which have some great information…not to mention a really helpful community.

My new site Nota Bene Consulting is currently being labelled as work in progress so in the meantime I am open to doing a few guest posts if anybody can outbid Mr Clark for my services.

Enjoy the video, and if you noticed, I’ve added random Red Cross banners on the blog.  The Red Cross was the organization that was leading the relief efforts in New Orleans during Katrina, so they’ll most likely be on the front lines of the Gustav effort.  If you can find it in your heart to give, please do so.

PB Formerly Of The Piss Biscuit - Hurricane Gustav from bryan clark on Vimeo.

Bryan Clark’s Dream Team - Aka Chocolate Thunda

• Captain - Me
• Nick - ImWritingSports.com
• Missy - g34Media.com
• Jay - SuiteJ.com
• Neal - The artist formerly known as the affiliate post, is now at NotaBeneConsulting.com

The Flip Mafia

• Tara (Team Captian) - http://thewahmblog.com
• Joe- http://www.intermissionatwork.com
• Javier- http://gomotorscooter.com
• Vickie- Blog in progress
• Justin- http://www.doubleprizer.com

The A-Team

• 1. Ryan (Captain) - I flip for a living, no flagship blog
• 2. Justin Kander - http://www.eastcoastairsoft.com
• 3. R.J. Adams - http://linkbuildingbible.com
• 4. Paul de la Warr - http://computersystemreviews.com
• 5. Sly - http://slyvisions.com

Team JustUs

• Joe - ImWithJoe.com
• PB - The artist formerly known as ThePissBiscuit.com
• Jason - TheUniversityKid.com
• Freddie - InvestWithPassion.com
• Holly - HonestHolly.com

Elite Ninja Flipping Unit (E.N.F.U)

• Girish (Team Captain) - Habitual Flipper, no flagship blog
• Sean - http://www.smemon.com
• Forest - http://www.therandomforest.com
• Jay - http://www.datmoney.com
• Mark Cuda - http://www.monkeyblogger.com

So, get those comments in and I’ll get the teams posted.  If you haven’t made your $25 payment yet, you can do so below.  Remember, as per the rules of entry, team captains must make a blog post linking people back to the contest entry post.  You can use the keywords, “blog flipping” if you are feeling kind.  No team will be entered without their captain making this post!  I will be checking!  The reason for the post and the link is to spread the word so we might attract more competitors.  And the link is so that they get the CORRECT set of rules, and not something that could be lost in translation.  So captains, get on it.  I must have the money, and the blog post by, Saturday, August 30th at 11:59pm Central time!  You can pay by clicking the link on the bottom of this post!

Anti Up Suckas!

I was actually “challenged” by the owner of SiteFlipU.com, who claimed he could flip 5 blogs in 24 hours for $1,000. I really don’t know why he came at me like he did, as I still believe this is an impossible task and there is no way he actually did it all in 24 hours, but check it out because he will make money regardless.

Well, apparently building 5 sites in plain view of everyone watching wasn’t enough to prove to this guy that it can be done.  I did my part, and there really isn’t much else that I can do but what I did.  Which was post the domains, and let you guys watch as I developed each and every one of them from start to finish in less than 24 hours.  I guess that’s not good enough for Jim, so let’s up the anti.

My Challenge To Jim

Now, I’m not normally all that confrontational of a blogger.  Quite the opposite really.  I’m usually friendly and accommodating to all those around me.  But I have to be honest.  Building 5 sites in 24 hours was hard work, and I’m not going to take kindly to someone that can’t accept the fact that not only can it be done, it WAS done.  I put in a lot of work, and worked 1/2 of a full work week of someone with a 9 to 5 job, IN ONE DAY.  Like I have said many times, I prefer my method of 2-4 hours a day, and 5-10k a month.  It works for me.  So it really pisses me off when I complete a challenge, and then this guy wants to try and discount what an enormous feat this really was, instead of just accepting it, admitting he was wrong, and then moving on to something else.

So Jim, here is my NEW challenge to you.

I’m willing to do this again and stream the entire event LIVE (including an over the shoulder camera), to prove that not only can it be done, it was already done.  But this time I refuse to do it for free.  Last time, I did the entire thing for free to prove it could be done.  So if you doubt that I could do it all in 24 hours, here’s the challenge.

We both move $5,000.00 dollars into an Escrow account, and then do the whole thing over again - LIVE.  Since it’s live, there will be no disputing the fact that it was done.

Send me an email and I’ll set up the Escrow account for the challenge.  That is, unless you somehow believe that it CAN be done now.  What’s there to lose Jim?  It’s impossible, remember?

If you have no clue as to the meaning of my headline, please refer to my post about my blog flipping challenge.  Well my friends, the challenge has been accepted, and here’s how it’s going to play out.

I don’t have any free time until Friday to do this, due to prior commitments and the fact that I need 24 hours straight of work time.  So here’s the deal.  I’ll build 5 sites using Wordpress, and then attempt to sell them for as close to $1,000 as humanly possible.  I think I’ll actually go a bit over $1,000, but I did carefully word my proposition by saying that if I don’t make 1k, I’ll get pretty close.  So, for arguments sake, let’s just say I have to make $1,000 in 24 hours.  Impossible?  Maybe, but I’m pretty confident that I can do it.  It’ll be impressive no matter what happens, because the blogger that accepted the challenge doesn’t think that these will go for any more than $20 each.

So the requirements for the challenge are pretty basic, I have to use 5 domains that were registered no earlier than 24 hours before they go to auction.  So basically, I’ll be building 5 sites, from scratch and then listing them for auction within 24 hours.  Crazy?  To say the least!

I’ve never actually attempted something like this, but I have had some success with sites that were less than 24 hours old, so we’ll see how it goes.  5 sites in 24 hours though?  That’s nuts.  I have to write content, install plugins and a theme, and get them listed in such a short time, that it’s a bit more than crazy.  The sites don’t have to sell in 24 hours, that’s up to the buyers… but they do have to be listed within 24 hours. I woud go for the whole shabang and say they have to sell in 24 hours, but I’m not turning down more money by selling to the highest bidder after 24 hours, when it’s possible that I’d be leaving money on the table.  After all, this is going to be a pain in the ass, so I want as much as I can get for these sites.

What’s at stake?

• 1 125×125 Ad in the losers sidebar for a period of no less than 3 months
• 1 Guest post by the loser, on the winners blog.  This post should explain why they lost the bet, and if possible, offer suggestions on how they could have improved the effort.
• Loser must write a post on their own blog admitting defeat, and explaining that they were wrong in their opinion.

Not a big loss either way right?  Yeah, just more of a fun challenge.  It’ll be fun for The Net Fool to watch, but it’s going to be a pain in the ass for me to try and work for 24 hours straight, or as long as it takes me to get 5 blogs up and running.  Wish me luck, and we’ll see you Friday.

I’ll start Friday afternoon sometime, and if you want to know the exact details of when I get started, check me out at Twitter.  I’ll post a message there moments before I start.  It’ll probably be sometime in the mid-late afternoon, as that’s when I wake up…Follow me at http://twitter.com/bryanclark.  I’ll try to hop on Twitter and keep everyone updated on my progress, assuming I’m making good time.  If I’m not, then you’ll just have to wait ’till it’s over to see the results.