Hey everyone, glad I found this forum.

[DannyBoy]

My name is Paul, 45, and I've been an affiliate marketer and working generally in IM and SEO for the last 6 years. I'm now at a stage where I've got over 100 websites, a large % of which are loan/debt/mortgage related from my hay days as an affiliate marketer. And I'm now in the process of offloading most of those loan/debt sites. And it was while I was seeking some more information about flipping etc when I initially came across Domain Sherpa, which was where I found the link to Flipping Planet and then here.

With so much to learn, but with such quality posts and input from all the posters here on Experienced People I'm looking forward to learning more about how to ensure I develop my sites to get the most from them and also learning about what makes a great domain name and if I already have a few diamonds in the rough as part of my portfolio.

Plus, I will do all I can to participate as best I can once I've plucked up enough courage to weigh in with some comments.

And if you haven't guessed it by my Forum name I am Irish. All the best.

[Slowdive]

Welcome Paul.
If your looking for advice on buying or selling websites you have found probably the best resource on the internet period. There is literally thousands of dollars of advice just laying around the place.
As to getting enough courage to weigh in just jump in we really do not bite and welcome new input and insights. As you are now off loading sites are you looking to break into a new market or new way of making money online or moving into something more bricks and mortar orientated?
Once again welcome looking forward to chatting to you in future.

[DannyBoy]

SlowDrive, thanks for the welcome and I totally agree this site is a goldmine of information.

I'm looking to offload my existing sites so I can continue with other ways of making money online. I've had most of my loan/debt related affiliate sites for 5+ years and I've just grown tired of that niche. Plus it's just gone so crazy trying to rank some of the keywords. Just try looking at 'payday loans' or 'bad credit loans' results on Google.co.uk and you'll see all sorts of 'dubious' practices being used by a good % of sites on Page 1. It's just not possible to compete with all that nonsense.

So from now on I'm going to be concentrating on a few sites and also venture into the world of domaining too. But I need to sell sites first so that's my main priority now.

Onwards and upwards.

[bwelford]

Welcome to the forums, DannyBoy.


I must admit that my futile brain developed the following image of your situation as I read through your words. Five years ago your domains were scattered around the financial scene with a certain amount of visibility. Since then a flood of inferior websites has gradually invaded the territory and it is almost impossible to stand out above this messy crowd. Of course Google who created this mess does not mind since they can make money through the ads that people may use to try to find financial solutions.


I am sorry to say I have no magic approach to suggest. It really is a very challenging situation. Hopefully you will find ways of retrieving best asset values as we all dialogue on any issues you raise.

[DannyBoy]

Thanks for the welcome bwelford.

For sure, it's been a frustrating time lately but I must admit I did have a good run of things with the help of Google for a few years so I'm not going to bash them over my situation. They are only a search engine afterall and they don't owe me diddly squat and I guess the lesson I've learned is that any business model that 'only' relies on Google is asking for trouble anyway. A number of my sites were hit with the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates and I have only myself to blame for that. Although a few sites that were hit I am still totally puzzled.

Yes, there is the argument that Google are pushing more and more companies to their paid adverts but the thing is that within SEO there is even more opportunities now as so many people have been disillusioned with what's happened, even in the last 6 months, and so are giving up their own SEO fights. And within those areas even more opportunities are opening up every day. So I'm not downbeat in any way and looking forward to new challenges.

[JimWaller]

Dia dhuit Paul, Deas bualadh leat! Níl Gaeilge agam. (Hello Paul, nice to meet you! I can't speak Irish.)

Welcome to the forum! Don't be too intimidated to post here, even though there is a lot of knowledge to be gained here, there are also a lot of great people to meet. I hope you get a lot of benefit from being a member of this community. I look forward to getting to know more about you and your experiences through your posts.

I'm glad to see your take on the changes is a positive one. I'm always happy to meet positive people. Keep up the positivity. Welcome!

Jim

[DannyBoy]

Go raibh maith agat Jim. (Thank you Jim.)

Don't worry, your Irish is probably better than mine. I'm not from a traditional Irish speaking part of the country (County Carlow) and I've been living in he UK for more than 20 years so can just about say 'please' and 'thank you' in Irish.

Likewise, I hope to cross paths with many people here and will always keep the glass half full......especially if it's got some Guinness in it.

[JimWaller]

C'mon DannyBoy (Paul), how can you keep a glass of Guinness half full? I've tried it and it just can't be done. (I had to drink it all)

Personally, I'd prefer a pint of Smithwick's over Guinness (I know, I know... blasphemy! But at least it's still Irish.) but, maybe that's just my American palate. Guinness is more bitter, so it's a little less smooth to me, but don't worry, I'm not afraid of the dark. Guinness is my second favorite beer after Smithwick's. (There is some Irish in my ancestry, can you tell? LOL) Though I enjoy talking about beer, I don't want to hijack this thread, so enough beer talk here. (Hmmm... maybe a poll for the foo section. I'm sure you'd feel comfortable posting on the subject.)

As for speaking Irish, I'm sure yours is still better than mine, because I cheated. I wanted to find the correct spelling of dia dhuit, and stumbled across a page of common phrases in Irish. I wanted to make you feel welcome, so I "leveraged my resources". (Okay, copied them.)

I did previously know a few phrases from having worked with a number of Irish people in France where I lived for a year. But a few can't be repeated in mixed company. (People always seem to learn the bad words first in a foreign language.)

For right now, have a virtual pint of Guinness: \_/

sláinte!

Jim

[bwelford]

At this point, given Jim's post, I am not sure what is on-topic and what is off-topic.

I therefore could not hold back from mentioning another characteristic of the Irish which is that they are often very verbose. Traditionally it is said that kissing the Blarney stone is what can cause this.

I remember once visiting the Ring of Kerry in south-west Ireland for a most enjoyable vacation. I will never forget the owner of an Irish pub in Cork, who spoke almost without stop for twenty minutes while we were there. All of his stories were fiction and I particularly enjoyed the one about the Cork cows which apparently were so light that they would blow away in the wind and so had to be tied down with stones to prevent this.

[crabfoot]

I will never forget the owner of an Irish pub in Cork, who spoke almost without stop for twenty minutes while we were there. All of his stories were fiction and I particularly enjoyed the one about the Cork cows which apparently were so light that they would blow away in the wind and so had to be tied down with stones to prevent this.

Did he also mention the Irish racecourse that appears for one day a year, then disappears at the next high tide?