Hi everyone and welcome to the new forum

[Clinton]

Added, Jan 15th: Forum Rules
================================================== =====

I did give a few of you a preview to the new forum and the request to not post. But it looks like you were raring to go and the conversation just kind of kicked off straight away yesterday!

That's a Good Thing. But it meant that my Hello World post got a bit behind.

Why this forum?

For a mature, quality debate on the matters related to the buying, selling and running of websites with the emphasis on the buying and selling. The reason it came about was because of the deteriorating quality of the conversation elsewhere and the high degree of noise in places like Digital Point.

Many of the main posters in the Buy/Sell section of Sitepoint who, with me, have been keeping the conversation going and answering most of the questions have agreed to join up and contribute here. I don't see this as some sort of revolt against Sitepoint but rather the setting up of a more focused location where we can keep the noise low.

Those regulars who've been talking about buying and selling websites at the SP buy/sell forum know that even in that established forum the buy/sell section has gone very quiet over the last year or so. And it may appear that even if the few members from there started talking here it may not be enough to get rid of the echo.

And I agree.

That's why I'm looking to expand the membership to some new areas, get in people who can make quality contributions, but who aren't already part of "the club" - the regular buyers and sellers club. However, I intend to do that in a cautious way. It would be easy to hire forum posters and make this forum look busy. But that's low-quality talk. And that's not what I'm after.

What the membership of these forums is going to look like

I'm after the type of people who can add value to the discussion on the buying and selling of online businesses. People who have expertise in the broader picture.

For example, I've got two chartered accountants on board who are both very keen on online businesses and own a fair few domains, but whose expertise lies in analysing company accounts rather than running websites. I'm sure we can learn as much from them as they can learn from us. I've had a couple of business and website brokers express interest. I believe one of them has already started posting.

And, as some of you know, I have numerous other contacts. People like Richard Parker, author of books on finding and buying businesses, owner of Diomo Corporation and the guy responsible for the Bizquest blog at one of the largest business listing sites in the world, will be joining us soon.

Barry Dunlop, serial entrepreneur and regular business buyer/broker has already signed up as has Luke Moulton, marketing manager at Flippa; petertdavis, prolific writer on the subject of buying sites and mod at Sitepoint, and others.

We'll have venture capital experts, people from the large business listing sites such as daltonsbusiness etc., and business advisors in addition to SEO experts and more.

I'm also willing to throw in $10-$20K in focused advertising. I want YOU to tell me the best places to target to get the right kind of members. So ... your suggestions please.

I haven't put together a long list of terms to post here yet but, as we're all friends, I'm concentrating on keeping the chat as open as possible. For now. Eventually I'll have to put in various checks to keep the spammers at bay. Till then I'll just do it manually. I'll probably pick up anything untoward but feel free to drop me a PM should you notice anything.

[3Six]

Fantastic going! In a little over 2 days you've got about 300 posts, 30 odd members and have some of the most respected people in the field posting here. What's more, the level of discussion has been consistently high unlike a lot of the drivel and newbie posts in the SP forums. Way to go!

[Clinton]

Thanks. I'd like to play coy and say, it's you posters who make the forum. And that's true. But timing played a part too. There just wasn't any place where people like you could have a sensible conversation on site selling and buying. DP etc are out because of the noise, and places where they do have some quality discussions, like webmasterworld, aren't focused on our niche so the good debates get lost. Sitepoint started getting a lot of silly posts and signature spam. When SP deleted a very interesting discussion about Flippa's failing because they didn't want any negative talk about Flippa, it was time to do something. We can't have the owners of the biggest marketplace, who have a vested interest in directing the conversation a certain way, controlling the main forum for debate on the subject.

Besides, I love talking with you guys, bouncing ideas of you guys and it would have been a shame to see you all disperse in different directions. I have a lot to learn from many of you.

[rikorosso]

Hello - some good discussions on here, will chip in if i have some revelations but as in most enterprises..it seems the marketplace is competetive and many people here would be evaluating the same sites that are for sale! are there any secret millionaires out there from buying and selling sites?

[Clinton]

Welcome rikorosso.

Some tips:
1. The BSTE section lists opportunities you won't find elsewhere. The smart ones will figure out how to find their own such opportunities which don't have many competing buyers.
2. However competitive "the market" is there'll be people around entering today who are destined to make millions.
3. You can create your own market

will chip in if i have some revelations

Sounds good to me. You'll be surprised at how effective sharing information in a community spirit is in attracting people to you and getting the right sort of PMs

[Rover]

To reply to Rikorosso, there are a lot of internet millionaires. It is one of the last places you can become a millionaire without much money. However, it does require quite a bit of intellectual capital to get it going. If you check the forbes list, most of the new young rich people made it on the internet. In the past it was primarily leveraged buyouts, retail, energy, and real estate. The internet creates more opportunity than most things because if changes so quickly that it is hard for established players to control everything. However, the further we go along, of course, the more competitive it gets.