[AMA] Ask Me Anything - Meathead1234

[LaLore]

Do you think the domain flipping arena is still viable? That is...domains without online property, traffic, etc.

I started my IM journey domain and website flipping on ebay and in the dn industry space with some success but moved on to other shiny objects after depletion of my portfolio. I'm interested in duplicating a dn flipping model that just really brings modest returns ($xx-$xxx) for expired, keyword & brandable domains. Marketing mostly via email subscribers.

 

[SkyrocketSEO]

If I wanna sell my site/domain on Flippa using your services, what is your cut?

 

[iwillnbd]

How long did it take for you to create and flip your very first website !?

 

[young player]

How do you manage your money that you make from IM?

For example:

50% invest into making more money
40% put into bank
10% spend.

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

What is the minimum investment YOU make in a site that you intend to flip and what sort of return would YOU expect to make?

 

[meathead1234]

Is it still viable for a novice to start flipping on flippa or has it all been sown up by guys such as yourself?

I barely sell anything on Flippa these days (all to my own list of clients) but it was certainly a useful springboard when starting (although fees were a lot less back then). The brokerage space is extremely competitive, so I wouldn't recommend trying to break into the market - it was easier when I started 3 years ago as there were far fewer people in the industry and now I have built up a rep. Flipping wise, it is also more competitive but if you have a certain skill set (e.g. good at SEO) you may be able to spot opportunities you can improve and still make decent money.

if you have 150$ in your pocket and want to start with Adsense

what will you do

I don't know how to build sites myself so I would probably find a service that builds them - or buy something with a couple of years of age from DigitalPoint or similar. It's important to get great content on there if you want to last long term. From there I would look for traffic sources that are not Google - my method here still works well - http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...5-easy-100-day-perfect-noobs.html#post3330279 and would also work with Adsense.

Hey

What kind of domains will be rising in value the most in the future? (since you are flipping websites.)

Thanks for doing this.

I don't do much with undeveloped domains, but I would always see value in one or two word .com domains - especially if they are in niches that are easy to monetize (e.g. finance rather than humour).

Bro what is the best option to receive money as a seller on flippa ? i mean some time buyers try to cheat and file chargebacks on PP So its not safe way what other option would be best to accept payments ?

I always use Escrow.com. It is quite expensive for smaller sites but well worth it for the security.

 

[Kixstart]

Great thread! I am sure this thread will answer many questions .

I only have one question. As far as I understood you already have your companies, you work with one or more teams. The most difficult thing for me is to give something to work to my friends. I currently teaching two friends of mine getting into IM. It's not such a big deal, but I feel like I am wasting my time and their time. How do you organize the tasks for you and your team? It's daily, or montly, or maybe weekly?

 

[Peter Ngo]

I have read many useful post of yours.

I have a really big question.

What is your real name?

 

[bigkapp]

Ok, since you said anything here goes.



Ok, what's really been keeping me from doing work online for clients is my reputation. Not in the online world but off line. If you google my name you'll see a bunch of pictures of me for a bunch of thing's I haven't done but unfortunately have been convicted of. Which also keeps me from putting up pictures of myself on freelance site's like odesk and freelancer dot com. With out a credible picture and name it's hard to actually get clients online let alone off line. And with a profile that's only half finished I might as well not even apply for these projects. If any of these clients googled my name which they normally do before they hire someone, they would not give me a pot to piss in. Yes , Since I am a search engine optimizer I could just do some rep management and push my pictures and bad rep farther down to the 2-3 page of google. But with a little due diligence on their part they could find out everything about me and see that I attempted to push these links down and would make all my efforts for not. I've already invested Sooo much time and money into this business to let a little jail time; a lot of jail time stop me. What would you suggest a person to do in a situation such as mine?

 

[meathead1234]

What was the single biggest mistake you have made (IM-related) in your IM career?

I'm not sure about a specific mistake, but generally I was too trusting when starting out. When you've been doing this for a few years, you'll realise that, unfortunately, the majority of people you meet online will be dishonest and will steal/rip you off.

How to make sale on click bank????

Search the forums.

Do you think that the site flipping industry will continue to grow?

I'm not sure about "site flipping" but I'm confident sales of sites in general will continue to grow. I've noticed more and more real investors looking to profitable websites as a genuine place to invest. One issue the industry does face is the number of scams - I speak to a lot of buyers who have bought sites from places like Flippa and it is VERY rare to find someone who has a good experience. A lot of people have lost a lot of money. It's not necessarily Flippa's fault entirely, but with all the MMO "gurus" pushing "site flipping" as a way to make money, it has decreased the general quality of sites available publicly.

I am a flipper too.I have sites PR 2 - PR 4 with avarage traffic but older than 2 months (OFC they are Expired domain) i just sold one with good traffic (1k unique visiots per month) Organic and paid ,,but i could sold it for cost arond $300 . Is flippa die /changed the market or still can we sell somthing for good price ?

You need to be creative to stand out on Flippa these days as it's very competitive. The real profit is there to be made once you have built up regular clients who will buy sites from you outside of Flippa (to avoid fees) and any other services you might be offering. English also doesn't seem to be your native language, so I would recommend having a native English speaker proof read your listings before they go public - this will help.

 

[iwillnbd]

This thread is going to turn into the best "Site Flipping" FAQ ever !

 

[Aaric]

How is family? .

 

[Wilson Grant Fisk]

What performance indicators and metrics do you use to evaluate a site and what tools are most useful to you?

 

[meathead1234]

Do you think the domain flipping arena is still viable? That is...domains without online property, traffic, etc.

I started my IM journey domain and website flipping on ebay and in the dn industry space with some success but moved on to other shiny objects after depletion of my portfolio. I'm interested in duplicating a dn flipping model that just really brings modest returns ($xx-$xxx) for expired, keyword & brandable domains. Marketing mostly via email subscribers.

I have never done anything with undeveloped domains, but I'm a firm believer in everything being profitable if done right. Just find a strategy/market and master it. Don't jump into too many unrelated projects.

If I wanna sell my site/domain on Flippa using your services, what is your cut?

We don't sell on Flippa much these days as our list is far more responsive and pay more. Our fees vary depending on the size of the site, assuming we agree to take it on (we are selective). It's always a % on completion, though.

How long did it take for you to create and flip your very first website !?

That was quite a few years ago now, but I seem to remember buying a site and selling it within a month for more than I paid for it.

How do you manage your money that you make from IM?

For example:

50% invest into making more money
40% put into bank
10% spend.

Costs breakdown approximately as:

50% staff
10% other overheads
10% variable costs
5% pay myself
25% reinvested

 

[SkyrocketSEO]

It's always a % on completion, though.

Thanks for the answer, might contact you in 6-10 months from now. Starting a big project in 10 days

 

[meathead1234]

What is the minimum investment YOU make in a site that you intend to flip and what sort of return would YOU expect to make?

Generally invest anywhere from $10k-$100k. For smaller deals, I usually want to make 3-4x my money within 6 months (e.g. I bought a site earlier in the year for high $XXXX and it's now worth mid $XX,XXX with some work - that's a good one). Larger deals I'm happy with a 50% yearly ROI (you are highly unlikely to pick up a good deal at the higher end of the market, but the absolute returns make up for it).

Great thread! I am sure this thread will answer many questions .

I only have one question. As far as I understood you already have your companies, you work with one or more teams. The most difficult thing for me is to give something to work to my friends. I currently teaching two friends of mine getting into IM. It's not such a big deal, but I feel like I am wasting my time and their time. How do you organize the tasks for you and your team? It's daily, or montly, or maybe weekly?

I refuse to teach friends or family IM. It's not worth the hassle in my experience and can only end badly.

Team wise, it depends on the staff member and what they do. Some have been with me a few years so are quite independent now - they know what they are doing so only use me for advice or help from time to time. The rest I write down their daily/weekly routine tasks and in the time they are not working on routine projects they are working on ad-hoc things. I recently hired a project manager to look after these projects as I didn't have the time. This is definitely something I need to improve on and I would imagine all young people running their first business (I'm 25) would have experienced similar issues.

I have read many useful post of yours.

I have a really big question.

What is your real name?

Quite easy to find if you do some research

 

[TheMasterOfMoney]

Have you ever sold to VCs or made them invest? What was the most expensive website you sold?

 

[meathead1234]

How is family? .

Great! Family tend to get more behind your business once you start making decent money (all entrepreneurs experience this!)

What performance indicators and metrics do you use to evaluate a site and what tools are most useful to you?

Good question. Depends what I'm looking for. If it's purely for ROI/flipping potential then I'll look at the sustainability of the traffic, the current income and the maintenance requirements. I also like to spot something (or more than one thing) that can be improved and add value. I'm quite old school so don't really use tools - I tend to just know what I'm looking at from experience. If I'm buying a site, I generally like to find similar sites that have details publicly (sold sites on Flippa is useful for this) to do some basic checks on key metrics. It's very important you understand Google Analytics, can analyse (and judge) link profiles and also can establish whether revenue is legitimate. As people tend to be very dishonest (in my experience) I generally find that clients/sites to buy from referrals are by far higher quality than those who find you through forums/Google etc.

 

[meathead1234]

Have you ever sold to VCs or made them invest? What was the most expensive website you sold?

I have a variety of clients - some might be small investment funds or private equity firms. Never raised investment, entirely self funded from day one. Most expensive site was in the $X,XXX,XXX range - but for obvious reasons, confidential.

 

[Techxan]

I am fortunate enough to build sites and do SEO. I typically buy a domain name, put up a page or two, and let the site age. At some point I will build out the sites for profit.

I have a site targeting an SEO tern that gets 10 exact searches a month. This site was built as an experiment in ranking with only on-page seo. It has now served that purpose.

It currently is at position 4 in Google for the term it is targeting. It has one page, a landing page with contact form for this one term.

I have not developed the site further, I have done no SEO except to link to one of my other sites (PR5 tech site) with a line "SEO provided by XXX" on the home page.

I want to flip this site for as much as I can. I do not see why I can't push this site to number 1.

The site has brought me some work, but not much. There is no adsence on it nor does it create revenue other than leads for SEO, so I have no revenue history to show.

What can I get for this site now, and how much more can I get if I expand out the site for other terms? How much of an expansion will be needed to get a better price for this site?





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