Buying an existing site revisited
June 29, 2006
I had an email sent to me asking for advice on buying a website. I have still only bought the one site, but still always looking for opportunities.
The person asked me about eBay. eBay is great for buying stuff, but I don’t think it is the place to go for buying websites. Take a look at this for what can go wrong.
Sitepoint seems to be the place to look if you are in the market. Go to the “Sell your site” forum.
Take a look at the forums on sitepoint, in the sites for sale there. There is some junk listed, but there are also some nice sites and businesses for sale.
I was reading this site yesterday and thought that it was a brilliant idea:
http://www.the39dollarexperiment.com/
This site, more like a complete business also looks pretty interesting:
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=396127
However, the best way is to find a site you like in an area you would like to work in and do some Google searches. Look for older sites that haven’t been updated in a while and just drop the owner an email and let them know that you are interested in buying their site.
I was lucky with tokyoessentials, and I have tried the same thing a few times, with no luck as of yet. Buying an old site and fixing it up is a great way to start making money quickly. I also found it a lot easier to get motivated working on something that already had traffic.
Often the people who have made something years ago and have forgotten about it are happy just to get anything for their site and probably don’t realize the value it has. Old domains, pre-2000 are priceless.
Buying old domains can also be a good investment. The domain show on webmaster radio is an excellent resource.
Always protect yourself by using an escrow service. I bought my site through Sedo and the sale went through fairly smoothly.
Adsense secret ebooks
June 27, 2006
There seem to be a lot of Adsense “secret” books around. I have a secret for you - there are no secrets!
In general people get higher click throughs when they blend their ads in the surrounding text, using colours of the main site.
Some gurus also suggest placing the ads next to pictures. This again may lead to higher click throughs, but does it increase your overall income?
Google has a unique conversion and tracking system, where they can track an ads success as to whether a click through actually generates a sale or some other conversion, like an email sign up.
So, I doubt that over the long term, making ads too much like navigation will result in higher income.
If you are looking for ideas on good ad placement, take a look at Steve Pavlina’s blog.
What does result in higher income, is higher traffic to your site. More visitors, more people buying. I would suggest to people to spend time (and money if necessary) thinking how to increase traffic, by either providing useful content or a unique web service, rather than worrying about whether the ads should be on the left or the right hand side of a page.
First eBook with Clickbank
June 24, 2006
I have uploaded my first eBook to Clickbank. There is a one-off charge of $50 to add a product, so I will need to sell at least two books to get in the black with this new venture.
You can check out my fairly crappy sales page I made last week here. It still needs a bit of work which I will revisit at a later time.
You can sell it on your site if anyone is interested. Sign up here.
I just counted all of my link sales with Linkworth and I am now up to $480 a month!
Quick update
June 24, 2006
Here is an update as to what is happening with my sites:
- a couple of new link requests, including a new direct advertiser
- first ebook submitted to Clickbank. Almost ready to start promoting just need to fix one more problem.
- second ebook currently around 20 pages. I have hit a bit of a wall with it, as I have found similar stuff for free, but I am still hopeful to make it worthwhile for people to buy.
- Nothing great happening with Adsense.
- Affiliate sales are going ok.
- My properties are now 100% rented!
I have a goal of creating at least one more major traffic site by the end of the year. It will probably be travel related and it won’t be tied to any one place. It is also going to give me the excuse to be able to travel anywhere I want in the world.
Tony Wheeler and what he did with Lonely Planet is a fantastic story. I am thinking of doing something similar but all on the Internet. It is not a new idea, but I think online travel information is still a huge growth area. I will also have some money coming in soon to spend on the site.
I also love the story of the guy behind plentyoffish.com. One guy is competing with some very big companies in the online dating space.
Losing pages in Google
June 22, 2006
Currently this site has a total of 9 links in Google!
site:retireyoungandwealthy.com
Perhaps I am getting hit because of the day trading and mortgage links I have on the site.
First Clickbank product
June 22, 2006
I have submitted my first product to Clickbank. I received a reply back from them with a couple of things I needed to fix up with my sales and “thank you” page.
I don’t think that I will doing any heavy PPC advertising with it. I think I will probably just put some links up on my own sites and also try it push the affiliate angle.
The content should stay fairly relevant and shouldn’t need too much updating, so I am hoping it will turn out to be a nice, quiet passive earner for me.
I have created another 1 page sales page for another idea I am working on. I have been trying to promote it with Adwords. Up until now I have most relied on sites getting free organic traffic, so it is an interesting experience.
I know that sales pages are created just so someone will either sign up to a newsletter, or buy a product, but I am really tempted to add a blog/forum. When you have been creating sites centered around SEF content, it is not easy changing tactics like this.
Why I came to Japan
June 21, 2006
Reflection time. Someone left a comment on my yesterday, asking why I first came to Japan. It is something I get asked almost everyday, but here goes…
I first visited Japan on a Lions Exchange trip after I had completed my first year of university. I spent a fantastic 6 weeks in Fukuoka and traveling around Kyushu. I didn’t speak a word of Japanese at the time, or any other foreign language. The experience blew me away and left a lasting impression on me.
After I finished my second year of university, I was getting pretty bored of studying Computer Science. For many years I wanted to study architecture, but the economy had tanked and there were stories going around of people who had graduated from architecture and were driving taxis. Computers and IT seemed to have a bright future.
I put my degree on hold after my second year, saved some money for an airfare by doing some gardening and with a group of other Aussies (and a Kiwi) headed to Japan to work on a golf course as a caddy.
I tried to study Japanese pretty hard before I left, but by the time I arrived in Japan all I could say was “where is the station?” (eki wa doko desu ka?) I worked at the golf course for 9 months, doing a lot of drinking and generally just having a good time. I spent the last 3 months at a small ski-resort in Shiga prefecture.
I had no other foreigners to talk to at the ski resort, except with a Queenslander, so the Japanese started to pick up then. I got back to Australia one weekened and started at university the following Monday. By then, I was pretty hooked on Japan and took on Japanese as a minor elective. For the first time I actually looked forward going to class!
As my final year of university approached, I knew I needed to get away from computers. It is a bit of a shame because I think back now and it was mostly just the hard core programming that I didn’t enjoy. I probably would have been fine doing something database or network related. The internet at the time was still all text based.
I was fortunate enough that my Japanese lecturer helped me get a fairly lucrative teaching job not far from Tokyo. It was probably the most carefree time of my life: good salary, lots of free time, free rent, lots of holidays. My only regret now is that I wish I had of gotten into the Internet back then.
I spent three years teaching, followed by a year in China before I went back to Australia for almost 2 years. I think my family thought I was settled back after I bought an apartment in Australia, but it wasn’t long before another opportunity came up which brought me back to Tokyo.
Almost five years have now passed here in Tokyo. It is difficult to answer exactly why I like living here, but I suppose it has just become comfortable for me now. Perhaps if I had a family, Tokyo wouldn’t be so great, but as a single guy it is pretty easy living.
Webmaster radio
June 19, 2006
This weekend I downloaded a few shows of Webmaster Radio to my iPod and did a bit of exercise. I have tried listening while working on my sites, but found it a little difficult to concentrate closely on the discussions.
I particularly like the Seo Rock Stars and Domain shows. I picked up a lot of great information, that sometimes just doesn’t come across in forums and blogs.
Some of the things that have stuck in my mind are:
- the upcoming .mobi domain availability in August this year, for mobile phones
- the amount of serious money going into domain investments. For example, bike.com being sold for $500K. Even investors like Ross Perot are getting into the market.
Some of these guys have been working at SEO and domains for over 10 years and they come across as being so excited as to what is currently happening in the market place.
Motivation and distractions
June 17, 2006
I am putting on the final touches to my Tokyo travel ebook. It is over 120 pages long of content, pictures and maps. Getting all of the information together, formatting it and so on has take quite a while. Now I just need to create a sales page and submit it to Clickbank.
I don’t know why but I am having trouble completing these final steps. On Friday I had a great idea for another idea for another ebook and started researching it. Ideas of how I could promote it, just kept coming while I was researching it and thinking about it later.
I know the answer to my problem, is to set clear goals and stick to them. I am just having a bit of trouble focusing right now. Perhaps it is just the warmer weather and the World Cup.
Working and managing everything myself, is definitely the way to go for me, but sometimes I would like to talk to someone about what I am doing. Unfortunately I just don’t have the people around me who are interested in making websites and I am sure I drive my gf nuts from talking about affiliate marketing, ebooks and PPC.
Saving costs of living in Japan
June 16, 2006
I know Tokyo is a relatively expensive place to live in and I pay a lot for rent, but compared to the costs I would have if I lived in Australia, in some ways it is fairly cheap.
- No car needed. Trains are so good here and parking is so expensive that there just isn’t the need. With the price of gasoline, repairs, registration and insurance, cars expenses must make up a large percentage of anyone’s budget. Also, I live close to my company so I usually ride my bike to work.
- Company pays my health insurance.
- Taxes are relatively low.
- House insurance not so important. Japan is a pretty safe country and I have never given any thought to insuring my possessions (not that I would have much to steal). Also when I moved into my apartment I got a heap of stuff for free from friends.
- Food costs are relatively low. Yes, you can buy a $100 melon in Japan, but since I am always trying to diet I don’t spend much on food.
- Internet fast and cheap. When I look at the ADSL plans in Australia, I can’t believe how slow the speeds are and how expensive it is.
Domestic travel is expensive, but international flights are fairly cheap. Movie tickets are a ridiculous 1800 yen for an adult, but an overnight DVD is just 400 yen.
