I’ll Take the Bait

I’ve been in firefighter mode the past few days, especially today with Newburyport.com, so I haven’t had a chance to post anything substantial. I’ve been busting my hump for the past several weeks meeting with people for advertising on Lowell.com & Burbank.com, which has been difficult.   Ironically enough, after launching a foundation of a site on Newburyport.com just over a week ago, I already have an advertiser lined up for when I fully launch.   Needless to say, I am working overtime to get the site launched and generating revenue…

Anyhow, I just saw a post from Mike Cohen, and I will take the bait on it. I know Mike can have an abrasive personality when he posts on blogs and forums, but he has privately given me some good advice over the past couple of months related to my developed websites. Granted some of the advice hasn’t been adopted by me yet due to time constraints, it has been helpful to me and has generated new ideas. Mike says that he is going to share something that will help you, and I am going to take him at his word.

Sure Mike is also an advertiser, but I am not being paid to write this or post a link.   I am very interested in learning what he has to say about development – and am interested in seeing what he has to share with others.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

33 COMMENTS

  1. The secret is inbound links (link building) to a page titled “Successful Domain Development Internet Business – Search Engine Optimization and Marketing”, which will help search engine rankings, generate more traffic, and selling more development service.

    That dude is sharp and a marketer!

  2. I’ve used a couple mini site developers for some of my domains and had some success. I’ve not gone hard core on outsourcing my work in mass quantities yet – mostly because my domain names are very subpar and the cost. I’ve spent much of my own time doing my development for myself and I enjoy it, especially since I do SEO and Web Development work full time.

    I’ve always been curious as to why some of the mini site providers spend so much time on building sites for others instead of developing their own domains? Is it more lucrative to work for others than it is to put your knowledge to work for yourself and focus on monetizing your own projects? Maybe it’s just the ability to give back and help other people that is the motivation for assisting clients.

    I know that if I were doing well enough with my own development projects I wouldn’t bother to have any SEO or Development clients. Long term, I’d like to only work on my own projects, but I’m definitely a couple years away.

  3. Elliott,

    I am sorry to read and hear you gave Mike any face time. He annoys almost everyone that he comes into contact with. As you know, he has been kicked off at least one message board and just a matter of time until he gets removed from others.

    He might be bright, insightful, and sometimes helpful. However, that doesn’t change the fact that is a dumb ass and put in a room with 20 domainers, he might get his ass kicked.

    My two cents, Ignore him, do not respond to his posts, do not visit (mikes) blog. Everything he does is generally self serving. Anyone who shows no respect, does not deserve it. As you can see from an earlier reply on your blog…he is a douchebag that I am proud to say I have never met in person and would not use his services for free.

  4. Elliott,

    You’ve been exhibiting a trend in your posts of promotion to rather too readily give credit to unproven providers. It was also a step too far yesterday to claim success for the bullrider helmets site when obviously those clicks were from blog visitors.

    Now you’re testing our intelligence and loyalty by your praise, now and before, of Mike Cohen, someone who doesn’t seem to offer any proof of the results and achievements he boasts of or wisdom he alludes to in his numerous posts here and elsewhere. @steven has said the rest for me.

    • @Glenn

      I wasn’t trying to claim success ($8.00 is no success) and sorry if it appeared that way. The point of my comment was actually to show that clicks are pretty high value, so once traffic is there, it will hopefully pay off. Contrasting this with TropicalBirds.com, where clicks are anywhere from $.05 – $.15/each, this was a positive sign for me. Also, I strongly condemn click fraud and can’t emphasize this enough.

      Mike has helped me privately, and despite the banter, he does have considerable development knowledge. Assuming he gets the traffic, which he will I bet, it will be revealed publicly whether Mike has some good info to provide.

  5. It’s funny. Everyone says “Mike has such great things to say”. I haven’t heard anyone say “Mike has done such a good job for us”. Still waiting for that. But now I’m curious. Hopefully it’s some good stuff.

  6. If he really wants to help the domainers with his great advice, then why he needs 1500 visitors first?

    I am not sure if he is a development guru or not, haven’t done any business with him yet.

    I hope he does open everyones’ eyes to real development and money making though 🙂

  7. A person cant cry wolf forever…Mike needs to put up or shut up soon not to be too harsh.

    I dont think he has invented a new wheel.

    Hit the link in my name for more seo info

  8. has anyone ever had success with mike. I don’t care about his brashness …success is what i care about. who has seen his work or making money with work he has done. Thats the bottom line. Every successful domainer has their own ways of communicating that can be seen as arrogant i.e. rick and rick lantona. If you claim to build successful websites/minisites where is the proof. gives us examples. Show us how you did it or any verifiable customers making money and no BS. Promoting minisites and no results…..? i would rather have someone who talks shit but can back it up. The proof is always in the pudding. Its all about the $$$$

  9. Sorry but I don’t share most my works publicly.. I am sure all of you would of loved to go through it all out and copy it, wouldn’t you? 🙂

    Carry on…

    I love all the comments. Keep em coming!

    My next reply will be +20 comments from now minimum 😉

  10. Well it will be interesting to see what the ‘Best post of the year’ will be about. One can only pompously gloat so long before he has to turn his cards over. As I see it, falling short of a Straigh Flush or better ‘revelation’ post, seals the deal on his bragdocious reputation once and for all!

    Wonder if we should take odds on what to expect!

  11. Right…go to Google, enter “Frank Schilling” then look at the sponsored links on the right. This scumbag used to also buy the keywords of “Rick Latona” and “domain boardroom” as well. Latona just about ripped him a new one when he found out 😀 Black hat SEO? no just one of Mike’s silly tricks. Where are the websitees samples?? hold your breath too long and you might still be waiting.

  12. Mike Who???

    Anyone who has kids will understand that the naughty ones get far more attention that the “good” ones.

    Class clowns may have their 15 mins of fame but will be forgotten in the long run!

  13. The sites I have seen that he has made are literally worse than MFA sites. If you Wanna’ bad website than contract Wannadevelop.com.

    Again, hype from Mike. But yet no examples of any success he has ever had…..ever. He has been given many chances to show something, but yet nothing.

    He made a little money in the porn biz trading off of famous porn star domains and now he thinks he is a site building, SEO rock star.

    His domain should be wannabe.com instead of wannadevelop.com.

  14. LOL I coughed out my morning coffee reading this:
    “He might be bright, insightful, and sometimes helpful. However, that doesn’t change the fact that is a dumb ass and put in a room with 20 domainers, he might get his ass kicked.”

  15. …’cross’ minisite (covert) testing?

    Intrigued by all the comments thus far, I took a look at the DNJ article mentioned above (Roscos Blog comment) to check out a few of the wannadevelop example sites.

    Interestingly, on mortgageaprcalculator()com [wannadevelop site] the ‘our contact info’ shown in the sidebar of each page links to worldonefinancial()com [AEIOU site]; which in turn links to MortgageModification()com [wannadevelop site] via both the final navigation tab & by way of a footer link on each page.

    In fact, all 25 of the mortgage ‘network’ sites [wannadevelop] are similarly linked to MortgageModification()com [AEIOU]. Could this (very heavy) cross-linking somehow be used to (covertly) test traffic or other stats? Or, have I unknowingly become so caught-up in the ‘drama’ that I am now seeing conspiracy theories everywhere I look?? […likely the latter!]

    Signed,
    Gas on the Fire? 🙂

  16. Next!
    Elliot, you are sucking up to your advertisers and it shows. One can not blog and take ads like you do and be fair. Therefore we have to discredit most of your advice.

  17. @domain kingpin

    I am sorry if you feel that way, but I disagree. You can discredit anything I write that you wish, but I am fairly certain my blog is one of the most open domain sources around, as I don’t keep many things secret. I have done okay for myself and I want to share with others what I have learned along the way. If people don’t want to listen, that is their prerogative.

    I do think that people need to be vigilant and think for themselves when ANYBODY posts something. If you feel something I write is biased, then by all means look into it before acting. In fact, I think people should look into any strategy or advice someone else writes before determining if its the best course of action for them.

    Mike has given me tips in private that have been helpful, so I am willing to take a chance in the hopes that he will share something unique. You know what they say, fool me once…

  18. The only way I know Mike Cohen is when I bought a couple of ‘traffic’ domains from him on a forum a few years ago which turned out to be pump and dump domains. This guy is totally dishonest. Stay far far away.

  19. ROTFL
    I’m sorry, but I think Elliot is smarter than many of us by finally drawing MC into his trap, giving us all the ability to directly comment on him/it, where 99% of the 30 comments here reveal most domainers have him in the “desperate,” “unproven” and “douchebag” column. He has no proven record of success, which doesn’t give him the power to make provocative statements about other domainers and their companies/services.

    If MC was so smart, why doesn’t he just take the HIGH ROAD and show us domainers the good stuff he has to offer, instead of randomly attacking anyone he considers a competitor and alienating the majority of this industry? Even Frager is dogging him… granted, that’s some coverage, but too much bad coverage will haunt you.

    Dang, I spent time giving advice he can take and maybe grow beyond his image of being a bothersome wart and maybe becoming likeable, and I wasn’t paid for it.

    Good job Elliot. I got your number!

  20. Oh, my main point was the title of Elliot’s blog article on this numbnuts… “I’ll Take The Bait”

    That was the “secret” notice to those who know Elliot that he was actually “setting the bait” instead of “taking the bait.”

    Elliot is too crafty to reveal this, so I have done it for him… ummm, ooops… I hope he doesn’t kill me! dang, and everything is looking so rosy! Life is good, spare me, El-Silver! (say that ten times real fast “EL SILVER”.)

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