Update on My Mini Site Revenue and Traffic Performance

Elliot Silver
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23

I was going through some of my mini site numbers today, and as I’ve done occasionally in the past, I figured I would give you an update on their performance. Prior to building these sites, none of the domain names had much traffic (under 1 visitor per day average), and a few of the domain names were hand registered by me.

These are all domain names I have wanted to sell, and if they weren’t used for mini sites, they would have continued to receive no traffic and virtually no revenue. Please keep in mind that on the sites I didn’t purchase, I did spend my personal time on them, and those costs obviously aren’t reflected in the overall cost.

Ultimately, as you can see, some of the mini sites did better than others and some look better than others.   When the domain names do sell, all of them are indexed in Google, which may not have happened had I parked them. Also, keep in mind that although the numbers are from March of 2009 through today, many of these sites haven’t been up for a full year.

TobagoVacations.com – Purchase Price < $800 on Snapnames

  • Page impressions Since June: 7,901
  • Clicks: 701
  • Revenue: $201.11
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: I used my developer’s template at a cost of $15.00

HockeyGoalieHelmet.com & BullRidingHelmet.com- Purchase Price < $8.00/each hand registrations

  • Page impressions Since April: 5,261
  • Clicks: 407
  • Revenue: $113.77
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: I used a free css template at a cost of under $5.00 for photos
  • I used the same Adsense channel so I can’t break them out

ChainCatshark.com- Purchase Price < $8.00 hand registration

  • Page impressions in last year: 3,506
  • Clicks: 27
  • Revenue: $3.74
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: I used a free css template at a cost of $0
  • This was my first mini site, and it was more for the learning experience

LynnAttorney.com- Purchase Price < $100.00 on Snapnames

  • Page impressions in last year: 289
  • Clicks: 5
  • Revenue: $3.83
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: I used a free css template at a cost of $0

CabCompanies.com- Purchase Price < $100.00 on Snapnames

  • Page impressions since August: 4,933
  • Clicks: 81
  • Revenue: $47.90
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: BigTicketDomains for less than $300

DubrovnikVacations.com and JerusalemVacations.com, – Purchase Price: private

  • Page impressions Since September: 4,186
  • Clicks: 98
  • Revenue: $59.00
  • Monetization: Adsense
  • Mini Site Built by: WannaDevelop for $99/each

UniqueInk.com – Purchase Price < $1,000

  • Page impressions since May: 10,502
  • Clicks: 511
  • Revenue: $39.60
  • Monetization: Adsense & Affiliate
  • Mini Site Built by: I used my developer’s template at a cost of $25.00
  • This domain name has been sold

Writing Good Content is Time Consuming, But Here’s a Tip to Get It (Cheap)

Elliot Silver
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12

People always ask me how I find time to write articles on my blog as well as articles on my various websites to keep them up to date and driving traffic. For my blog, it’s pretty easy. When I was in an office with co-workers, if I saw or did something interesting, I would jump over to their office to discuss. Since I don’t have co-workers any longer, I use my blog as an outlet. Writing content for my blog is pretty easy.

However, writing good content for my other websites is not as easy. Although I enjoy some things related to the topics at hand, I am not familiar enough about all of them to write good content. On my geodomain names, I frequently publish press releases or articles that were submitted by readers. This is easy enough, but it doesn’t happen enough to keep the website updated with a variety of interesting information.

One thing I’ve been doing successfully on DogWalker.com would be easy enough for others to do and I want to share this (not unique, but good) idea. When people sign up for listings, I thank them and offer them the opportunity to do an interview or submit an article on any dog-related topic. This has been a big hit and is greatly appreciated. The articles are posted on the DogWalker.com Blog.

Surprisingly, many people have articles they’ve written but haven’t published online yet, and they are very happy to share them.   I have articles on a range of topics either published or scheduled to be published in the coming weeks. There are exercise articles, tips for training dogs, an article about how to help dogs who are afraid of fireworks…etc.

I have been posing the articles and linking to them on Digg and Facebook, which helps drive more traffic and awareness. In addition, a couple of submitters have posted links to the articles on their websites. It’s really a win win for all parties. Since I am using WordPress for my platform, publishing the articles takes under 5 minutes each, and the benefits are considerable.

If you operate a website where you have advertisers – especially small businesses, you should consider offering to feature your advertisers in a guest article or interview. It adds good content (for free) and can help build your relationship with the advertiser while bringing more traffic to your site.

5 Customizable WordPress Themes

Elliot Silver
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6

When building out some of my websites, I generally look for an inexpensive website theme to use, and lately I’ve preferred to use WordPress, as it’s easy to update and add plugins. Sometimes I use the theme completely as is, and other times I hire a freelance programmer to make special customizations for me.

I’ve used ThemeForest.net several times, and the site always seems to have new and interesting themes to use – at relatively reasonable prices (between $15 – $35/each). Many of the themes offered have different color schemes and/or styles from which to choose, giving you more flexibility.

Below are my current 5 favorite customizable WordPress themes:

For those of you that care, those are affiliate codes although I do not know the designers.

Burbank.com Partnership Announced

Elliot Silver
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19

In July, I blogged about the City in a Box platform offered by Fred Mercaldo and his team at Scottsdale.com. A few people asked me if I would be willing to use the platform on one of my websites. I can finally answer that question today.

One of the reasons I flew out to California for Domain Fest was to finalize a couple of deals that have been pending. I am happy to announce that one of the deals has been finalized, and I will be engaging in a marketing/content partnership with Scottsdale.com (see press release below).

Scottsdale.com is one of my favorite developed geodomain names, and I have always admired Fred Mercaldo’s team. They have a great sales staff, and they are clearly experts when it comes to geodomain development and monetization. I am very lucky to be able to work with them on one of my more valuable domain assets.

I’ve known Fred since the Geodomain Expo in Chicago, and I am excited to be working with him on this project.

=====

Silver Internet Ventures, LLC Announces Partnership with Scottsdale.com, LLC

Companies agree to marketing, advertising, and content distribution partnership for Burbank.com using City in a Box platform

SANTA MONICA, CA (January 26, 2010) – Silver Internet Ventures, LLC and Scottsdale.com, LLC announce a marketing, advertising, and content distribution partnership on Burbank.com, a domain name owned and operated by Silver Internet Ventures. The new website will be built on Scottsdale.com’s proprietary City in a Box platform, and the sales and marketing team at Scottsdale.com will manage sales and content on the website.

“In the year and a half the company has owned Burbank.com, traffic has grown from a few hundred visitors a month to several thousand,” said Elliot J. Silver of Silver Internet Ventures. “As a result of living across the country, it’s been difficult to manage content and ad sales. The Scottsdale.com team has a great sales staff, and they will serve the Burbank market in ways I can’t. This partnership is something I am excited about, and I look forward to working with the Scottsdale.com team.”

“We are very excited to take on the Burbank.com project.   Personally, I have spent a significant amount of time there over the years, and have a pretty good feel about the city and what it has to offer. Billed as the “Media Capital of the World”, it truly is a hub of the entertainment industry, but it is neighborhoods too, and home to over 100,000 PLUS people,” said Fred Mercaldo, of Scottsdale.com.   “We are pleased to be Elliot’s choice to both develop and monetize his Burbank.com asset, and we will exceed his expectations!”

Mercaldo continued, “we will do our best to make Burbank.com a resource that the locals will come to rely on, along with providing visitors a robust site for planning their studio and entertainment industry visits.   Our ‘City In A Box’ software solution is a perfect fit for this site, and we will be announcing a major initiative within the week that will detail our aggressive growth plans for over 30 GeoDomain markets in the US.   Examples of our software can be reviewed at sites such as Palermo.com, Chandler.com, Sunnyvale.com, and more.”

The new Burbank.com website will be launched by April 15, 2010. Companies who are interested in advertising on the new website should email the sales team at sales@burbank.com. A representative will contact you shortly.

Sunday Afternoon Update

Elliot Silver
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0

Here are a few small updates.

  • I think Rick made the right move by halting the live auction yesterday and re-scheduling the remaining domain names for yesterday. This makes me even more appreciative of Oversee.net and their Snapnames platform which works in conjunction with Moniker on live auctions. The only down side is that they still don’t have a version for Macs.
  • Domain owners frequently receive emails from auction companies asking them to lower reserve prices. In light of technical and timing issues that sometimes impact live domain auctions, one should consider whether lowering a reserve price is a good idea. Yes, there are plenty of names that have reserve prices way above where the should be. However, if you aren’t comfortable lowering a reserve price, then don’t do it. It’s your own fault if you heed the advice of an auctioneer whose goals may be different than yours.
  • I’ve been excited with the results of Dog Walker.com.   So far in the 2.5 months it’s been live, there has been just shy of $3,000 worth of listings on the site. Although I am sure the pace of sign ups won’t be as strong as it has been the last month, I predict break even by March of year 2 (domain acquisition + development + marketing costs).
  • After a couple of weeks worth of work, I launched CatSitter.com this week, a directory of cat sitters and cat boarding companies in the US. Just about everything on this new site is the same, and I expect to have many sign-ups from existing advertisers. I paid much less for the domain name and development since the platform was already built and customized.
  • I want to thank Michael Sumner of DN Media and MiniSites.com for his help with coding/programming on both of these sites. I needed a WordPress expert on short notice during the holidays, and every time something different came up, Michael was there to help. It was especially appreciated because it wasn’t his project, but he was willing to lend a hand and make important (complicated) adjustments to the functionality of the sites.
  • January has been my best domain sales month in over a year. This really isn’t related to quantity (less than 15 domains sold), but rather the quality of names I’ve been selling. I’ve made some solid acquisitions along with quick, private turn around flips in the last few weeks. There is still money to be made in this business after all.
  • I made a last minute decision, and I will be flying out to Los Angeles for DomainFest tomorrow. I have a couple of pending deals that will be finalized in California this week, and it doesn’t look like I will be going to Atlanta as previously anticipated. I wish I could have attended the TRAFFIC show, but I will be at TRAFFIC Vancouver. Safe travels to everyone.

Rick Latona: Inside WeBuyWatches.com and New Consumer Division

Elliot Silver
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0

When Rick Latona and I were chatting about business development a couple of months ago, he mentioned that his company was going to launch a watch website with a similar model to companies like Cash 4 Gold and others. Customers would visit WeBuyWatches.com and they would send their watches to Latona’s company in exchange for cash. It would be a quick transaction to allow consumers to trade their luxury watches for money.

I read an article on Fusible.com this morning (a site that provides good insight into what domain investors and others are doing with top domain names), and I followed up my conversation with Rick regarding his newest venture.

You’ve recently launched two consumer sites with Vino.com and WeBuyWatches.com. Are these long term plays, or are you looking to build these two business and sell them in the shorter term?   What else is in the pipeline?

They are definitely long-term plays. I’ve been an internet guy a lot longer than I’ve been a domain guy. In a lot of ways, I’m just getting back to my roots.

My business partner Ryan Steel and I have a lot of experience creating and working with revenue generating sites for other people and this is a focused effort to put everything we know into one high-quality site at a time.

Is WeBuyWatches.com solely a Rick Latona, LLC venture?

Many members of our team have a piece of the action but there are no third-party companies that are involved. For instance, Escrow.com isn’t involved. They are only on the whois record because the domain was purchased on payments over just a few months. The record will update soon.

Do you find that people are apprehensive about sending a high value watch through the mail to a company they don’t know? Does having a name like WeBuyWatches.com give you added credibility in the marketplace?

Some are apprehensive but we are getting through a lot of the objections. Honestly, I don’t think the name has much to do with it. This really isn’t a domain play. It’s basic internet marketing. After that its all about negotiating deals and helping the customers. This is a business in and of itself, just like Vino.com.

Our new consumer division has nothing to do with domains other than all of the sites will have one. If we don’t want to be in the business we won’t build the sites.

I know you closed AEIOU late last year, but would your company help build a business like this for other domain investors?

No. Honestly, there is too much that has to go into building internet businesses. These are full-time gigs with their own staff and expense structures. We are incubating our own properties and simply don’t have the time and resources to do them for others.

How has your experience as a pawn shop owner helped you with this site?

Heh. Tremendously! Without going into details I’ll just say that there’s a certain art to dealing with hard goods and customers in this sort of environment. It’s not something that can be mastered in less than a few years.

Can domain owners who invest in domains part time do something like this, and what would you advise someone who wanted to build a business like this?

There are different types of domainers. I was never the type to build a portfolio of names that generated healthy PPC returns. I fall in the category of domainers that buy and sell for a living. As far as I’m concerned, what I do is buy things to sell at a profit. I really don’t care if it is a domain or a Rolex. If you are a domainer and think like me than I don’t see why you couldn’t do something similar. Just find a niche other than watches because I don’t intend to leave much room. 🙂

How important is the domain name in this venture when compared to other things like SEO, marketing, customer service…etc?

It’s not important at all. We bought WeBuyWatches.com because we though the domain would make a good brand. To us, it is worth more than watches.com which would sound like a retail site. It’s all about SEO, marketing and customer service.

What else would you like people to know about the start-up and/or Rick Latona, LLC as it relates to consumer websites?

You ain’t seen nothing yet. Vino and WBW are a result of 3 months effort. Wait until we are fully rolling.

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