When I announced to the world (the 150 of you that come by everyday whom we adore) that I challenged myself, while waiting in line at the grocery store, to generate the equivalent of that shopping bill in affiliate commissions by the end of the week, I thought I had it all figured out. Little did I know…
Though my original plan was well thought out, and in theory would begin to generate affiliate income, I quickly realized that 1 week is not enough time to implement the particular bum marketing techniques I was planning to use – so I had to change my plan and roll with the punches.
As I began to gather up my Lemmings and inform them of the labor shift , I noticed a common theme recently amongst my peers and partners in the Blogosphere – Site Flipping! After reading some awesome challenges and making a phone call to one of my Bloggerhood Ninjas, I concluded that site flipping is probably the most efficient way to make a quick buck with little to no financial investment – which would enable it to fall into my Bum Marketing Madness theme perfectly!
So over the last few days I have managed to do the following:
- Find a niche and key phrases that have a high KEI rating using Wordtracker
- Purchased a domain name that contains one of my selected key phrases
- Researched affiliate networks and found 3 niche related products to promote
- Selected a theme that will provide functional as well as aesthetic elements to my WordPress 2.6.2 back end.
- Designed a custom logo to replace the stock header, and a few custom banners for Clickbank products using Adobe Fireworks CS3
- Compiled a folder of images for the posts.
- Researched and wrote 10 posts, all spread out and post-dated between Tuesday and Friday.
- Submitted the site and posts to Digg, Stumble Upon, and bookmarked it in Technorati, delicious and furl.
- Fully integrated Google Adsense and my selected Clickbank products into the theme and content.
- Created a Squidoo lens using the same keywords and images from some of my posts, with completely rewritten content.
What’s left to do?
Today I’m hopefully going to complete 3 possible tasks to increase the value of my site flip once it hits the Sitepoint.com marketplace. The first thing I’m going to do after completing this post is write an article based on my primary key phrase and submit it to 5 or 6 of the high ranking article directories – with the domain name linked in the resource box of course! This will get one way links pointing towards the site and increase it’s value and positioning for my main key phrase – currently I have my Digg submit in the number 3 position as of last night, and I’m almost positive by the end of day tomorrow that my Squidoo lens and Ezine article submission will take the remaining top spots.
My second task is going to be creating a profile on Myspace and a few other social and blogging networks, and adding some friends and posts to these pages that point back to the site – again for one way links, but to also give the site some social value which is important with Web 2.0 style blogs. Lastly if all is well I’d like to submit the blog to some of the better known blog directories and maybe do some more commenting on niche related sites and forums.
My plan is to have the sales copy written and the auction up on Sitepoint.com by early evening Friday. If all goes well I will sell the site by Sunday for at least $100, which I don’t see being a problem, and accomplish my goal of making back the grocery money we had to put on Veronica’s credit card because we’re broke. This was my challenge to myself, and I am going to complete it while teaching myself how to flip websites for profit and spending nothing but time to do so.
See you guys at the finish line.
Cheers,
Elijah
I’m definitely looking forward to hearing how this goes, since that’s one of those mysterious ways of making money that I know nothing about. Heard of it, but no clue.
Good luck with that man. I’ll contact you, and I’m gonna send you an email containing some info that will help you to increae your website’s value on sitepoint
TheMoneyacs last blog post..Niche Colonization
Hey Elijah, great update. Also checked out your site a few days ago and was really impressed. If you put the same amount of effort into another site after this but spend a little bit more time promoting it and getting traffic, I think that you can either turn it into a money maker and keep it or sell it off.
You picked out a great theme for the site and did a splendid job on the graphics. I think you have a great set of skills to be successful in flipping sites and as long as you can stay motivated and keep on track, you should start to see a nice little boost in your income.
@ Jarret – What income? lol
@ Wordvixen – If I can master this, I think you’d be great at it as we both enjoy writing – and content is king with flipping sites.
@ Moneyac – I’d appreciate that man, send away!
Elijah,
I have been following along ever since I came across this blog a few weeks back. I just had to come out of lurking to say, man you are on your BUSINESS! Keep up the great work; you’re definitely an inspiration for others out there wanting to make an income online!
I also love to build sites, but hate to keep them updated. 🙂 That’s why almost all of my Squidoo lenses are for sale- not because I built them for selling, but because I lose interest after the project is done.
I’ll definitely be watching your progress. 🙂
WordVixens last blog post..Squidtorials: Lesson 2- Adding Value To Your Lens
Oh heck, I just saw that you linked me. Thank you! I clicked it earlier thinking it was the lens you built, and later couldn’t figure out why I’d loaded up my own site. Doh.
WordVixens last blog post..Squidtorials: Lesson 2- Adding Value To Your Lens
@ Greg – Hey man, thanks for stopping by. I’m trying so hard to be on my business right now. I have two choices, I either make this work and start generating somewhat of an income to keep our bills at bay, or I get a day job… The later would is not something I’m looking forward to.
@ WordVixen – lol, I’d like to know more about the market of buying and selling lenses. I had no idea there was one. You do have quite a few! You’re funny – Why did this link take me back to my page?
There are some people who make their living that way (usually selling for much more than I’m doing it). I know of two that partnered to build it into a biz. Plus, I see a lot of “build me a lens” jobs on the freelance bid boards. However, those people usually want it done for like $15. So not.
Funny… or a dork? Only you can decide (but I know which one I’m voting for!).
$15 bucks… yeah right. NEXT! It takes at least 1-3 hours to create a substantial lens that will rake half decent traffic…
I’m a dork, so I’ll say dork for you too!
Elijah –
I dont know “Jack” about site flipping, even though I have successfully sold just the domain names before! (Bought for $8 on Sunday, sold for $2500 on Weds… right place, right time)
Got a prop for ya…. I have 2 domains, BOTH of them are pretty good, www .searchphrase .com names. You know, like gasgrill, or cheapshoes, (Not the actual names, just an example)
You teach me to flip one of them, by showing me how with the second one! You keep yours as payment for helping… I will keep mine as a reward of my efforts! 🙂
Deal or No Deal?
Mark
Oh Elijah,
You have been busy huh? I tell ya what, Dan (Mr V. SHHHHH) has allot of tattoo contacts on MySpace. I will have him send out the link to the new blog to his buddies on there! Maybe it will hike some traffic for you!
@ Mark – That sounds like a lot of fun man. I’ll send you an email so we can get on the phone or Skype and have a pow wow.
@ Tara – You’re awesome. That’s final!
Oh man….you jumped on it and killed it! More people need to do exactly what you’re doing. Instead of continuing to look for more, and more, and more “secrets”, simply make a list and take action. That’s how you make money. 🙂
Looking forward to watching the sale 🙂
Cheers!
Bloggerhood Ninja
SuiteJs last blog post..Get A Free Ebook Cover Design
Nice man, I missed this update but I’m catching up now, good to see you rolling with it man, it’s all about adapting and getting things done. You have a good plan and something you will be able to repeat multiple times in the future to make a nice income stream. I’m watching…I plan to get my toes wet with this soon.
Normal Joes last blog post..How To Reach Success Through Teamwork And Having The Right Friends
Hello to you both!
I am rolling in a little late to your combined money making efforts but it seems that you smashed this goal. I was drawn here by some fantastically funny comments over at big heads blog and had to come see for myself.
Congrats on the success of your first site flip and here’s to many more! Good luck with your joint venture with Mark, he is a great guy to work with.
I toally agree with Jay, that it makes a really nice change to see people set goals and then go out and achieve them, rather than most who will sity and argue about whether or not it is a worth trying.
I have a lot of reading to do, in order to see what else you two have been doing, but can say for sure that you will be seeing more of me.
Let me know if I can help with anything!
Cheers,
Neal
Welcome my friend – and just so you know, this blog is unsensored.. so If you wish to say “Fuck” go nuts! we’re all adults here…