A fun podcast I never miss is the Internet Marketing Insider from SiteVisibility.com. Great insights from the internet marketing trenches featuring Kelvin Newman and Andy White. I borrowed this clip from their recent Want a Sticky Website episode because it deals with a subject I know to be near and dear to domainers. Especially if you’re interested in selling domains to end users for SEO purposes, you need to stay on top of what’s working. I’m not sure I agree with everything Kelvin is saying in this clip, but I’m glad to have his perspective. Check in out.
As anyone who has stumbled upon his ImpulseCorp.com blog knows, Eric Borgos has a treasure trove
of domaining/webmastering experience dating back to the very early days of the internet. Since selling
his Bored.com site in 2008 for $4.5 million, Eric has found time to share some of his experiences. Eric
graciously accepted my request for an interview.
Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure… Eric Borgos.
Podcast Notes: Eric Borgos http://www.impulsecorp.com/ http://www.nameshopping.com/ http://bored.com/ (Record created on: 1997-05-24) sold for $4.5 million.
Early entrepreneurial efforts (as a kid). Baseball cards, coins, silver, Penny Stocks.
College years.
Early domaining, (Ye Olde Drop Catch).
Webmastering directory type ‘mall’ sites.
What was working in the late 90s.
Affiliate links > ad networks. Bored.com [links to 1998 screenshot] directory of sites with fun stuff to do.
Copying other sites- why send the traffic away?
CoolVideos.com vs. bored.com/coolvideos
Link-network vs. brand.
Site plays audio backwards.
Type in a phone number and a text message and the site calls the number and announces the message.
How fun sites get built.
Freelancers, overseas programmers. http://www.scriptlance.com/ http://www.guru.com/index.aspx
Traffic, costs, profit. Selling Bored.com, the psychology of the sale.
Two bidders are better than 1.
Tax advantages to selling vs. salary.
Capital gains vs. income. AdoptMe.com for kids. Free virtual pet. > Plush toys for sale in stores with unique code identifiers.
GetFlowers.com CheapFlowers.com + Running two brick and mortar flower stores!
SEO value of hub site approach?
Selling domains.
9000 domain names > parking. TrafficZ.comDDC.comTrafficValet.com
To renew or not to renew?
Mini-sites vs. parking income.
Auto-content sites.
Domain sale process – negotiation. http://estibot.com/http://dnjournal.com/
Paypal vs. https://escrow.com/index.asp
Still registering domains?
Revenue, profit, expenses, sales. http://www.nameshopping.com/ http://www.dumb.com/
Keeping it interesting.
What’d I miss? Help me build a list of questions to ask Eric in a follow-up interview.
.com vs. .net
ppc to drive traffic to his sites?