Can’t Get Rich

If you’re a fellow member of the John Cow herd, you’ve probably noticed that he’s been talking a lot about selling his blog. While I think this is a good business move, I’ll be sad to see one of the few competent members of the ‘make money online’ niche go. If he does sell, I’m hoping he’ll start a new blog in a month or two.

I can understand why someone would want to sell a popular blog, but I can’t see why anybody would buy one. If the Cow leaves, so will 90% of his herd (unless the new author has a similar writing style). Most likely, the buyer will immediately over-monetize the site, and it will fall apart like a house of cards. Oh well, the seller gets his thousands, so no big deal.

I’m wondering how much he’ll be able to sell it for though. In his most recent post, he cries out against the ‘10x your monthly revenue’ rule and uses a much more diverse rule set, which prices his blog at over $340k. If I were to follow the rules he laid out, this blog would be worth around $18,500. Tell you what though: If anybody is interested in buying this blog, I’ll let it go for an even $10,000 (that’s 46% off! Better act fast).

Ask yourself: At what point would you sell your blog? If somebody approached you with an offer, how big would it have to be for you to take it? I have no plans to sell this site, but I have assigned a value to it. If someone came to me with that value on a check, you can bet I’d sell without any hesitation. Could I make more six months down the road? Sure, but some money now is worth a lot more than lots of money later.

What happens after you sell a blog anyway? Do you tell your readers? “Hey guys, I’m selling this blog to some other guy, but I’m starting a new blog at www.newblog.com. I’ll just pick up where I left off there.” Something tells me that the buyer wouldn’t be too happy with a post like that, as all of his new readers would vanish within a week. Maybe you have to sign something saying that you won’t blog in the same niche for the next six months. I’m actually curious now. Does anybody know?

Anyway, like I said, I’ll be sad to see the Cow go, but I’ll completely understand. Sell the blog for $25,000 (actually, sell it in Euros. The dollar isn’t doing so hot right now), buy a pet kangaroo (send me a Joey please), and invest the rest into other online projects.

Completely off topic

My traffic has been pretty stagnant for the past few weeks. I want to have another contest, but my last one didn’t do so well. Anybody have any good ideas for a prize?

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I’ve been putting off doing this ReviewU until today. Why? The title of the site I’m reviewing is Retire@21 and, well, I’ve failed. I turned 22 today, and I’m definitely not financially secure enough for retirement. Oh well. According to the sidebar, I can still learn a thing or two.

Meet the man

Retire@21 is run by a 19 year-old guy who is obviously very British (just look at those double-decker buses in the header). According to the About page, Michael Dunlop has been an entrepreneur at heart since the tender age of 5. He got his big break on eBay, making several tons of money, and has since built Retire@21 to encourage other young people to make their fortunes online instead of playing Football or making out with cheerleaders under the bleachers after gym class.

Oh, who am I kidding. I can’t make the obvious ‘Internet nerds don’t have social lives’ joke here. If I had spent 2003 making money on eBay instead of playing Final Fantasy for hours on end, I wouldn’t have a site named “Can’t Get Rich”. Michael, I envy you (especially with the current Dollar to Pound exchange rate).

The site

In addition to most likely having an awesome accent, Michael has a pretty nice site to be proud of as well. The layout is fantastic, and the site itself doesn’t have a ‘bloggy’ feel to it. The front page displays recent interviews with young millionaires, has some limited content, and that’s it. In order to get to the meat of the site, you actually have to browse around (remember the net before blogs?). The top nav bar links to the site’s blog, which is updated fairly regularly (+1), the site’s forum, which shows me that the site has an established readership, and a few lists and individual articles.

Speaking of articles

I love this: Creating your first website. Sure, it’s nothing that hasn’t been said 10,000 times before (although this article puts it all in one place), but look a little deeper. Look at all of those affiliate links. It’s beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many on one page. If one person were to follow the instructions on this page, signing up for hosting, buying a template, and signing up for a few marketing vehicles, Michael would probably make somewhere around $200. This articles is great reading for total newbies, and it’s probably a great source of income for the site. Everybody wins.

What else?

Let’s see. This site seems to have a lot of interviews with people who are

1. Rich
2. Creative
3. Good programmers

Basically, it’s the people that I had in mind when I created this site. I’m really not any of the above, and most people aren’t, thus this site was born. Still, it’s interesting to read one-on-one interviews with the new rich. You might even recognize a few of the names. You might also shed a silent tear over the number of kids who make more than you and can’t even drive yet.

I think I’m going to toss this article in the ‘Lucky Bastards’ category. Anyway, moving on.

The heart of the matter

Strip away all of the impressive extras and you’ll see that this site’s blog is just like any other ‘make money online’ blog. Of course, what all of those other blogs don’t have are the aforementioned ‘impressive extras’. The interviews, the walkthroughs, and the forum make this site into an impressive little community for young entrepreneurs. Inspriational, informative, and interesting. Add this one to your feed list.

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The Cow is having a contest. I want to win said contest. Why? Because I’m sick of the Wii’s terrible online support. He’s giving away a free XBox 360 Elite, and I want one.

Screw you Nintendo. You promised us a next-gen console, and we’ve received nothing but mediocre crap. It’s time for me to cast off my Nintendo-only hat and find a system with decent online support (and better graphics. and more ’serious’ games). You had your chance, and I’m done waiting.

Entering the contest is simple. You have a variety of ways to get tickets, and after I publish this post I’ll have a total of 560 entries. I really, really would like to win, so I’m going to keep building entries by posting links to the contest everywhere I can think of. Maybe I’ll even enter via my personal blog (if that’s allowed).

Anyway, under no circumstances should you enter this contest. If fewer people enter, I have a better chance of winning.

Edit: Contest is being sponsored by Top Hosting Center. I need to learn to read the rules.

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Jason, more commonly known as The University Kid, has purchased the second paid ReviewU ever. Surely, this is an event which will go down in the annals of history. The subject of this review, Blog Premiere, is certainly worthy of such an honor. You see, this new site isn’t just a blog, it’s a blogging magazine. Jason has high hopes for this site, and I do too. Let’s take a look at where it is now and where it’s going.

The site so far

I just have to get this out of the way: The theme is gorgeous. You simply can’t go wrong with a theme by Adii (he made the one I use on this site too). To me, this site doesn’t look like a plain, ordinary blog. It looks like a professionally done news site (which is a big plus). Even in this super-futuristic year of 2008, some people still refuse to see the blog as legitimate media form. Blog Premiere won’t have that problem, as the theme positively screams MAGAZINE instead of ANGSTY LIVEJOURNAL.

Looking past the theme, you’ll see a standard blogging-blog. Topics include how to monetize your blog, what to look for in a web host, how to find motivation, etc. There isn’t that much content yet, but that’s understandable considering the site is less than a week old. Speaking of content, it looks like Jason is accepting submissions. If you’d like your content to be seen by potentially thousands of readers, read this post for details. Speaking of content, there’s one thing that confuses me…

Article updates

Here’s one thing I’m not really clear on yet: Update frequency. If you take a look at the articles that are currently up, you’ll see that they’ve been added over the past few days. If you check out the About page, however, you’ll see that it says that the site will be a monthly publication. Which way is it going to be? I’m not able to figure it out at this point.

Personally, I’d go with weekly updates. Monthly is too infrequent for my tastes. Get a list of writers, have them submit their articles for review two days before the next update, and publish them all on the same day every week. That way, it’ll seem less like a blog and more like a weekly magazine.

Monetization

Ah, they key component of every ReviewU: Monetization. So far, I’m seeing a large banner in the header, a 300×250 square just below that, and a couple of 125×125 spots halfway down the page. Nothing excessive, which is good. Focusing on content at such an early stage is the key. There’s just one problem though: The 125×125s don’t work! Clicking on them leads to a 404 page. Nothing major to worry about though, as all new sites have bugs.

In addition to the ad spots, I’m seeing some affiliate offers worked into a few of the articles. That’s always a good technique, as it doesn’t take up any re-occurring space.

As much as I’m going to hate myself for saying this, this site could actually benefit by expanding it’s ad spaces a bit (after it gets some content going, of course). Two more 125×125 spots and a page-peel ad wouldn’t hurt.

A lot of potential

I’ll be watching this site with great interest. Maybe I’ll even submit an article or two. I think it has the potential to be very, very big. Just think: One weekly (monthy? daily?) publication where you can read interviews with the pros, what’s hot in the industry, and tips for making it big. I can’t think of any other site like it. Consider me subscribed.

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I struck on something brilliant (read: lucky) yesterday, and I’ve been spending all of my time promoting it. I don’t want to tell what it is too soon (just in case it falls flat), but if it works like I think it will, I’ll be sure to let you guys know. I’ll give you a hint though:

Morons + Email Submits + Good Domain Name + New Campaign + Relevant to Current Events = Profit.

In addition to that idea, I’ve been doing some research on using proxies and CPM ads to make the $$$. If you don’t know what a CPM ad is, basically you are paid a set rate per thousands views. I know next to nothing about what those types of ads generally go for, so I’m looking around. Also, unless I can talk my web host into turning a blind eye to my system resource usage, I may have to look into getting a VPS (hopefully not though).

To top it all off, I’m still working on some craigslist ads that trigger an autoresponder with my product affiliate link. Those haven’t been too terribly successful, and I’m working on making new ads for different cities.

So yeah. Busy day. I don’t have anything too terribly witty or interesting to say, so why not take a look at some people who do?

• Cow is picking up Entrecard for a month again to prove that (most of) its traffic is worthless. Preaching to the choir here.
• Paul is answering questions. He still hasn’t answered mine though (Do you play Smash Bros?).
• Jason interviewed some big important guy. Definitely an interesting read.

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