My gut tells me that, all in all, the idea of putting a lot of energy into one or two medium to long term projects just doesn’t sound that sexy to most.

It’s pretty much across the board in life though isn’t it? A crash diet that promises you will lose seven pounds in a week is much more appealing than the long haul of slowly but surely changing your diet and lifestyle to a more healthy one. Or the idea of saving up for a holiday versus whacking it on your credit card and never dealing with it later.

I like short term goals and quick results too, and if there is a fashion crisis then a crash diet to get into that little black dress might be in order; eventually it all catches up with you though, and you’re back where you started.

To be able to achieve more stable outcomes, outcomes that can see you through more than a month or two, you need to make changes to how you’re approaching things.

Would you like an example of how I took the advice I’m giving you? An example of focusing on something very narrowly and dedicating time and energy to it over the medium term and what some of the results were?

The turning point

Around a year ago I mentioned in one of my posts that I was joining Yaro Starak’s Membership Site Mastermind program which was an investment of over $1200 Aussie dollars. Even though during the course I realised that the membership site model was not something I wanted to pursue, the money I paid was worth every cent. Amongst the many things I learned, there are two things in particular that I took away and applied with precision.

1. Yaro emphasised more than once, that focusing very narrowly on a niche is critical to success and
2. In the area you choose to focus you must build preeminence.

pre-em·i·nent adj.
pre·em·i·nence n.

Superior to or notable above all others; outstanding. See Synonyms at dominant, noted.

It’s one thing to build a website around a particular niche but it’s a completely different thing when you aim to build preeminence in that niche. How can you build preeminence if you’re spread over many niche blogs in various markets and or many different modes of attempting to make money online? It could be possible if you have the time and resources, but for most of us I’d say it would be quite difficult to build preeminence in many niches at once.

Of course there are niches that we actually choose not to build authority in, and therefore we’ll hunt down cheap content, build Squidoo lenses, submit article after article and do as much marketing as we can……..across a variety of niche sites. Harping on about it I know…but….the level of success across many sites will be less than optimum when your efforts are spread thinly and you lack focus.

Yes, you can make money out of many niche sites etc, particularly if you put in a lot of elbow grease, and if that’s what rocks your world then go for it. But what I’m seeing is that most people don’t do the work. They get tired of all the fluffing around and the myriad of niches they have not one iota of interest in. They become masters of unfinished business with a plethora of unloved, weak sites that earn very little, and they do a lot of hopping around from one thing to the next online.

Build preeminence

When I started Yaro’s course, pretty much overnight I narrowed down my niche here to building and selling websites. It was almost instant that I had new people commenting and interacting with me via email and Twitter. These were people who were very interested in the topic at hand.

Previously, the subject matter of my articles was quite random. I was blogging about anything and everything that took my fancy and therefore the audience was rather random too, and I had built no preeminence in anything in particular on this blog (oh except for my initial rants about BS marketing tactics.)

Narrowing down to one topic attracted a very targeted audience like bees to honey. I was writing about something that I myself was very interested in and actually ‘doing’, and that attracted the attention of others who were in the same niche and also those who really wanted to get started in it.

Another interesting thing that happened was, rather than me have to go out and find ways to build preeminence by way of interviews, guest posts and joint ventures, they actually found me! I’m a work at home mum and a lot of the work is the ‘mum’ bit, so with limited time I actually couldn’t take up all the opportunities being offered to me! I was ‘found’ mostly via word of mouth.

What I experienced might not happen to everyone and the niche you’re in will impact how things pan out too as will the quality of your work, your existing level of expertise and various other factors, but the results I saw are pretty convincing particularly when you consider my distinct lack of time! When you share what you know, others will help build your authority for you.

As I said, the results were very quick and it was visible in my traffic stats. Once I narrowed down what I was focusing on here, my monthly traffic was six times that of the monthly average from the previous six months.

The possibilities

So six times the traffic with significant time constraints and these results are most likely a drop in the ocean to what I could have achieved if I’d been even more focused with more time.

There was the possibility of offering a membership to my readers but I decided to create an ebook that would span more than 200 pages and cover, step-by-intricate-step, all the things people said they wanted to know. An ebook meant people could move as quickly as they wanted to through the steps and make only one payment, as opposed to dripping the content out over months and asking people to commit to a recurring membership fee (this is not the ‘right’ approach, it just suited my situation at the time).

That one ebook has generated thousands of dollars in sales since it was released in March. I might add though that this is not your typical ebook. What I mean is that 200 pages is not typical, and the detail and presentation of the book is quite high; so take my results for what I am: not typical!

It’s not rocket science

Are you seeing the light?

Do you think you’re ready to narrow down and focus for a bit? Focus on building authority around something? Are you thinking that you can’t apply this to your area of interest or expertise?

It’s not rocket science, and yes many people see success when blogging on random subjects within a broad market; however if you have the opportunity to focus in on a topic, in particular one you enjoy and can should share with the world, then it’s a place to start.  It’s a place to begin, and perhaps eventually to become known as the most preeminent in your niche, or at the very least one of the most preeminent.

If you create something of interest, of quality and of value then others will reference you, they will send people your way. I do it all the time.

Chocolate: Lindt

Facebook fan pages: Leigh Kostiainen

Buy and sell websites: Flippa

PPC: Jen-PPC Mom

Frugal living: Forest

Green living: Stephen

Running with my dog: PoochTo5K

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ = You!

Not everyone is the dominant player in their markets, but with their niche carved out they have a targeted audience.

One step at a time

So if I can generate these results on limited time and I admit with a somewhat limited focus, what can you do with the time and knowledge you have?

I encourage you to create something that you have some level of fire in the belly for; something that you know others are passionate about too; something substantial, sustainable, authoritative and as Nathan Hangen would put it, create art!

Now don’t all of a sudden go quitting your job, dumping all your domains and registering www.Kumbaya.com (sorry to break it to you but it’s unavailable). One orderly step at a time please!

Start by just getting your head around not stirring 20 pots on the stove and begin thinking about what you have to share and then move forward consciously.

Resources:
You can read all about how to build preeminence, and how to funnel that into a membership site if you want to, by downloading Yaro’s free report. He calls it a report but it’s seriously a bible! This is not an affiliate link, it’s a genuine recommendation for his free ebook.

Looking forward to hearing what you plan to create!

What I’m really trying to encourage is the idea of you building something substantial, something exciting, something you want to live and breathe every day. Something more substantial than spreading yourself thinly across short term active income streams and five, ten, twenty different web properties all offering various degrees of ‘potential’ and promises of passive income.

To build something substantial doesn’t mean you have to build ’something else’ or ’something new’, although that could be exactly what you need to do now or in the longer term. You could quite possibly take something you’re doing now and give it your all – look at the possibilities of building a current site or activity into something more than what you might have planned to.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Perhaps creating something with more authority, depth, size, longevity isn’t for everyone and if you’re just starting out online or feel a lack of knowledge generally, you might be hesitant to think ‘big’. Actually to be perfectly honest, I think the less you know the better off you are.

How so?

If you don’t understand about all the ways to make money online, are not sure what all the Twitter and Facebook fuss is about, you can simply focus on one or two medium to long term projects without so many tempting distractions. Whereas if you know how to quickly build niche blogs, MFAs (made for AdSense sites), review sites, re-purpose PLR, flip websites, find cheap ‘unique’ articles, run a WSO (Warrior Special Offer), perform article marketing, provide writing services, design services and a whole lot more, then you can actually find yourself doing all of those things in some way shape of form.

What happens whilst you’re doing all those things? Well it’s less likely that any one thing will grow into anything substantial.

Going beyond the sale

Is it possible for you to take your active income stream and develop it beyond the initial sale? Develop it into a business? Perhaps you don’t want to and perhaps it’s not your active income stream you’d like to develop but rather one of your favorite niche blogs or review sites. Or it’s something new that you just know you’d enjoy working on and building up.

It can be easier to flitter about from one site to the next to the next, building Squidoo lens after Squidoo lens to point at your sites, to submit article after article to your twenty plus sites but is it worth it? Is it worth it for you to spread your efforts across mini-sites instead of digging into something you and others love and apply all your skills and knowledge to a passion or area of serious interest to you?

Maybe knowing what that thing is you’d love to develop alludes you right now but just starting to consider focusing your energy more will help you get a feel for the difference between sprinkling a little bit of you across many things versus giving a lot of focus to one or two things.

Don’t hold yourself back too long though. Don’t be afraid to develop something out a little bit even if it’s not what you sense would be your ‘ultimate’ online business. You can always sell the business down the track if you find something else you want to pursue that you’re more excited and passionate about.

Considering the customer life cycle

So where do you begin? How do you move from the mindset and busyness of stirring 20 pots of broth on the stove to stepping back and looking for a new recipe full of depth and flavour? Begin by considering the customer life cycle.

In a previous post related to site flipping I mentioned:

There is more to this business though than the simplistic calculation of the difference between the costs associated with your site sales and the final bid price.  There are many ways to earn income from your buyers outside of the Flippa marketplace.

Whether you write articles, flip websites, design graphics, build WordPress themes, offer tech support, blog in obscure niches etc, there is opportunity to retain customers.

I see far less focus on retaining customers online compared to my off-line experience and when the focus is there online it’s more often than not very short sighted. It’s usually in the form of subscribing to a list and then the customer being bombarded with offers that don’t logically flow.

The ‘flow’ of offers I’m used to receiving is quite frankly in the order in which the marketer’s friends launch their products. So today’s offer might be on outsourcing and tomorrow’s on awesome video production. Next week might be about making AdSense sites and the week after niche sites. It doesn’t flow and therefore doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me not to mention help me get anywhere in particular. I haven’t been retained as a customer by many Internet marketers.

Focus and consider your customers’ real needs

When you start focusing your efforts in one or two specific areas you will attract and connect with customers who are very targeted to what you have to share. As you pour out your energy and your enthusiasm into what you’re doing, that will be felt and absorbed by those who share your passion. You will quite naturally retain more customers as you deliver what you intuitively know they need.

Of course there is more to it than simply having a passion for something and sharing it but personally, I couldn’t think of a better and more enjoyable place to begin.

Are you up for the challenge of building something substantial?

Do you haves skills, passion and knowledge that you could should be sharing with the world?

Are you ready to start enjoying yourself?

I don’t blame them for thinking it’s hard, I recall when I first wanted a website built. I just went to the phone book and rang someone up as I had no belief I could do it, no way! Only computer geeks could build websites! A quote in the thousands put me off and my husband enthusiastically volunteered to learn html. (Let’s just say we never got much further than the excitement of mastering the marquee tag. )

I did end up building my first website with a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editing program that came free with my first web hosting account. It took me weeks to work it out and the end result was not very glamorous!

Create a blog in 4 easy steps!

These days, thanks to WordPress, a complete newbie can be set up with a website in a day, however there are still a few steps to follow that could be challenging for a newbie. So to help them navigate their way through more easily I’ve pulled together a couple of reports, Create A Blog In 4 Easy Steps and Setting the Right Foundations for Your Blog which can be downloaded for free at Vred Voice, so now my friends, and other newbies, can whiz through the reports and they’re up and away.

The thing I’ve found myself asking these complete newbies though is what they actually want to do online, what are their goals? Some of them have a little idea in their head about what they can share with others or they have a unique Internet business idea they want to introduce. Many though ‘just’ want to know a way they can make money online – any way.

I wrote in a previous post about making money from home and how there are so many methods to try. My fear for my friends is that they’re going to end up on the same merry-go-round that so many end up on:

1. Buy a product that promises wonderful things
2. Start the project
3. Discover that the method just isn’t that appealing
4. Move on to the next thing
5. And the next thing
6. Leaving a trail of unfinished business behind them.

Unfinished business

We all have them. I have them. I have tens of projects and sites that are half baked and looking back at it all, I know the time and energy that went into those projects would have been better channeled into one or two main focal points.

What inevitably happens when we have all these loose ends is a need to do something with them, to tie them up. Questioning back and forth, will we finally outsource and get things completed or will we sell them off half done for someone else more enthusiastic to take them forward? Will we go back to all those methods that we know really do work that we ‘just’ need to stick to a little while to get things moving?

Spreading yourself too thin?

What that can all lead to is you trying to pick up where you left off from various projects and before you know it you’re trying to be across many things at once. If you end up spreading yourself too thin then nothing gets completed properly anyway and the cycle repeats itself.

Knowing when to let go

If you’ve got unfinished business that is hanging over your head, that you tinker with here and there or that just haunts you with guilt that you haven’t followed through, then perhaps it’s time to take stock.

Clearing your schedule for the projects that matter to you most, that deserve all your attention, will see you being a whole lot more productive than when you’re trying to juggle a variety of businesses. So could you do that? Could you let go of some of your loose ends to focus, and if you did, do you know what it is you would choose to focus on?

What do you really want?

Do you have a good idea of what you really want to do online? What are your medium to long term plans and does what you do each day support those goals?

If you really did take stock and put aside once and for all those minor half done projects, do you know what it is you want to be spending your time and energy on? What sort of online business you want to be involved in?

Asking yourself what you would like to ultimately be doing online, and giving yourself permission to do it, can bring an extremely refreshing change to your outlook on making money on the Internet. Suddenly you are the one determining the destination on the sign posts not the hundreds of destinations being sold to you every day.

Tread your own path

You can tread the same roads everyone else has, go down the road less traveled or be a trailblazer. Don’t be afraid to carve out some new ground and follow your own path. There are benefits to learning from those who’ve trodden a path before you but many times their path isn’t exactly one you’re going to enjoy.

Is it time for you to take stock, tie up loose ends or let them go altogether and decide what you’d really like to do online and blaze your own trail?

As many of you know, my background is in strategic business development, specifically in retail. You’ve no doubt heard the saying “The customer is always right”, and I’d heard that a lot too. But over time I came to the conclusion that no, in fact the customer isn’t always right. Some customers just shouldn’t have shopped in our stores, simply because their expectations were never going to be met.

If you enter a discount retail store and expect to have staff hanging off your every need and giving you a private shopping tour you’re likely to be quite disappointed. Just as if you walk into Harrods expecting to find a designer handbag for less than $10, not likely! So are you right to complain in these instances? If you were misled about what the store offered, then yes, that’s not really fair is it if you were tricked through the front door. But generally, in the brick and mortar world, you can often glean quickly what you’re likely to expect from certain stores, but that doesn’t seem to stop some customers having unreasonable expectations of what the business offers.

During my time in retail we’d receive complaints that there weren’t enough staff on, that the customer had to wait in a queue ten deep and the store was too noisy, too cold and the product range was too narrow. Some changes can be made to a business model to try and appeal to more customers but ultimately, a discount retailer will keep costs down to keep their sell prices down so some customers just need to shop elsewhere if they don’t like it. We don’t want those customers in our store because their expectations do not match our offer, they’re not who we’re trying to appeal to and we cannot please them: we will not deliver silver service with rock bottom prices so they need to be moved along or get in line to pay for their goods like everybody else.

Aldi is a great example: “No Gimmicks, Just Low Prices”. Shopping at Aldi is a pretty ordinary experience to say the least but with great prices and quite a lot of quality preserved in what they sell it’s very popular. If I go to Aldi I don’t complain that it’s cold and that the stock being stacked on pallets on the shop floor is less than pleasing. I understand what their offer is and if I don’t like it then I need to shop elsewhere.

At the end of the day sometimes you just have to fire a customer.

Sounds harsh but this post is already getting quite long so I can’t be fluffing it all out with niceties sorry, and who’s got time for fluff these days anyways!

So does the need arise to fire customers in the online world too? Yes!

In the online world it’s easy for customers to complain, it’s easy for “customers” to steal and it’s easy for a customer to claim that the ‘item doesn’t do what it was purported to do’. The last point is true when it comes to digital goods where the customer has to actually do something to make the purported outcome actually occur. Hey, I could sell you a book on how to win the lottery but if you fail to actually go and buy a ticket to begin with then what hope do you have of ever actually winning?

I’ve seen countless claims from people online that ‘all’ the products they’ve bought ‘don’t work’. I read comments like “Ugh, I’m so sick of buying all this stuff and none of it actually works! I’d love a mentor, someone to keep me on track because I’m so useless at staying focused and following through.” Is it just me or do you see that the individual has not actually completed the said tasks to even see if the various models actually work or not, yet they claim they’re being ripped off?

When people make these sorts of statements in forums and so forth, in the past I’ve tried to help them and discover what the method was they were trying. Interestingly, when you start asking for urls, article marketing links, where did they build traffic or whatever the key levers were for the success of the particular path they took, the forum poster disappears, or more commonly, rewords ‘what they meant’. They either aren’t motivated to follow through or are distracted sucked in by the latest shiny objects that promise the “Internet lifestyle”. This means they never realise that the model does most likely work, they just haven’t actually stuck at it long enough to see. Or, in a lot of cases, let’s be brutally honest, they haven’t even started it.

(Yes, there are some marketing tactics that cross the line, yes there are plenty of massively overpriced products but at some point you have to take responsibility and unsubscribe from everything and choose one thing and do it until you prove it works or not!)

I find it seriously laughable when people buy ebooks and then ask for a refund the same day saying it doesn’t work, or it’s too hard to understand, or it’s just so not going to suit them. I’m continually surprised at how many people think that other people just came down in the last shower. Both buyers and sellers do it. They do things that essentially insult the intelligence of the person at the other end of the email. The good news is that when customers ask for a refund within the first day (or within the guarantee expiry period ) you don’t have to fire them! They’ve already shown that they are not going to be a good match for your products so you can spend more energy with those people who do resonate more with you and what you have to offer.

Here’s where it gets ugly though.

It gets ugly in terms of a waste of your time and energy, when the customer is a poor match but has nothing better to do than stick around, complain, ask millions of questions yet take no action and pretty much try to ‘disprove’ what it is you’re trying to help them with. Questions right up front asking for ‘proof’ ‘it’ works and so on. You can see it right from the get go, they just aren’t shopping in the right store. You’re never going to please them, convince them and get them to take action. They’ve bought a product, they have to do some work and so they decide it’s much easier to pick on the product, try to find holes in it, try to disprove it and so on. At what point do you tell them “You’re fired!”?

Luckily for me I’ve only had a couple of instances where I’ve had to fire a customer online and generally it’s been done by explaining where they’re going wrong and why they probably won’t succeed, whether that be about their mindset or their unwillingness to do the right thing by their customers. Sometimes you can fire a customer simply by refusing to pander to all their unreasonable expectations.

So what sort of customer are you? Do you have a good understanding of what you’re buying and why or do you just buy everything and ask for a refund and sit back in your office surrounded by all the ‘free’ products you’ve acquired. Does that work in terms of building a solid profitable business?

Are you the type of customer who is so scarred from some of your online experiences that every marketer is a scammer that has to prove themselves innocent first before you’ll take any action on one of their products?

Are you the type of customer who, even though you can see some marketers give away a load of stuff for free, you don’t care, you just want more and more for free and just take and take and take some more. Do you expect an endless supply of hand holding, ‘do it for me’ type help and generally place unreasonable amounts of requests on the people you follow?

I’m often talking about sellers needing to think about the buyer in the transaction and I’ve sacked plenty of gurus I used to follow who I’ve seen treat people like dirt, but I’m just as keen to speak out on behalf of marketers who genuinely offer good products and loads of free information who are quite often attacked for not giving enough, for not replying to things with enough detail, to not offering enough hand holding. We are all acutely aware of just how far the free line has moved but at some point we all begin to realise that ‘giving it all away’ and then being asked for unreasonable amounts of ‘more’ and giving it is downright insanity.

It has to go both ways. Not every person who sells something is a ruthless slime ball so be careful because you could get fired by someone who could have ultimately been the person to help you have the best chance of success.

If you have customers in your business who are being unreasonable, who are clearly not a good match then don’t be afraid to fire them. Focusing on those people who are willing to do the work, who are more in tune with you and what you offer is where you’ll find more success and happiness for yourself and your loyal followers.

Have you ever had to fire a customer?

Something I’ve found that’s helped me has been music. I’ve found it helps me plough through the more mundane tasks and or just brighten my day and mood. When I’m more upbeat I tend to be able to ‘get started’ on things that I’ve been putting off such as big projects or even just tidying up my desk or inbox. I have to admit though that I’ve tended to grab music from YouTube a lot and have more than once spent way too much time watching videos when I was supposed to be working with the music in the background!

Working online for myself means there isn’t anyone keeping me in check; no colleagues expecting me to pull my weight, no boss asking me to meet deadlines and no clock telling me when I can and can’t knock off for the day. I’m my own boss but quite frankly, without some of those external factors pushing me along, my productivity has been half what it could be and that’s being kind!

A couple of weeks ago though, something happened that has literally changed the way I work. I found me some kick ass motivation at Blogger Beats.

Blogger Beats was launched at the beginning of May by Nathan Hangen and Oleg Mokhov. To say Nathan and Oleg are an awesome combination is an understatement! Nathan’s cut-to-the-chase style inspires, motivates and moves quickly enough to keep your interest but still at a pace and level of detail to understand the points he’s making. Combine that with Oleg’s awesome mix of music that is uplifting enough to get you moving in your seat but not so distracting you can’t concentrate, and the result is powerful!

What exactly does Blogger Beats offer? Well in Nathan’s words:

Blogger Beats is part motivation, part business, part sleeves rolled up and down to business, part sleeves buttoned and down to business.

Let’s not forget about the awesome, original and unique tunes created by the mixmaster himself, Oleg Mokhov.

All designed to help you get in the zone and be more productive than ever before.

All in all, you’ll get 2 brand new shows each and every week. They’re around 30 minutes on average, and they’re all unique.

Every episode I’ve listened to so far has been awesome and I can’t wait to hear next weeks sessions!

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with getting motivated and staying motivated which is why I’m so happy to be sharing this with you and anyone else who hasn’t heard about Blogger Beats before. It’s just the combination I need to help motivate and energise my work time and I hope it can help you too.

You can try it out for seven days for only $1!

Update! You can now try Blogger Beats for FREE for seven days. Get it here!

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In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer

This topic often creates much debate between those who believe all PLR is useless and those who feel it does have its place.

I’ve seen plenty of junk content online, in fact a lot of it I suspect actually isn’t PLR but rather is content that has been spun through a program that spits out complete gibberish. I’ve bought PLR content that doesn’t read well and I imagine very likely to not be well researched either. On the other hand I’ve bought loads of great quality PLR too, some with limited distribution and some in such small markets that no one much else was using it. So from my experience I’ve come to realise that there is low quality PLR around but I can find plenty of quality PLR too when I want it.

In terms of ways to make money with PLR, for me that has been limited pretty much to websites that I build to sell. On a couple of occasions I used straight PLR but decided quickly that I’d prefer to rewrite articles that would pass Copyscape 100% rather than on-sell content that could already be indexed by Google on other websites.

I have certain sources for PLR that I stick to as I’ve come to know them as offering quality in most instances and I feel confident that the content is a good base to work from. On a couple of occasions I’ve included small PLR ebooks in some of the sites I’ve sold too so the new site owner can either sell the ebook or use it to build a list of subscribers by giving the book away via an opt-in form. (Not all PLR can be given away so always check usage rights before you do so.)

When selecting the PLR I’m going to use as research for my content I read over it quite thoroughly and make a judgment as to the quality and accuracy of it. If it’s poor quality I will often do the research myself or look for a better quality PLR pack.

I’ve purchased quality PLR from Peggy Baron in the past and recently Peggy interviewed me by phone and during that 40 minute interview we talked a little bit about the use of PLR in terms of selling websites. I discussed how I really find it difficult to write on subjects I’m not passionate about so having quality PLR as a base to give to writers I outsource to relieves me of the writing task but doesn’t cost me money in outsourcing the research component too.

When Peggy mentioned to me that she was working on a membership site that would help people learn ways to maximise PLR I asked her to let me know when it was launched so I could tell you about it. Well that day has come, Maximise PLR is live. Peggy has teamed up with a gentleman by the name of Alan Petersen to deliver nine modules of content all related to maximising PLR. (And my 40 minute phone interview is included in module 6 so you get to hear my Aussie twang! )

I’ve had the good fortune of peeking inside the Maximise PLR modules and there is loads of content, some of which I’ve had the chance to review and some I haven’t gotten to yet. Peggy and Alan have certainly jam packed in the videos, PDFs and recommended resources! As I mentioned already, there are nine modules and they are all very different. They cover ways to build a list using ‘give away events’ in module one and how to use PLR in your article marketing in module five! There is variety galore so you’re sure to find plenty of new areas to explore when it comes to PLR.

As I said, there are a lot of videos included in the Maximise PLR membership and I haven’t been able to sit down and review them all but I have watched quite a few of them and all were conducted by Alan. I don’t know Alan but what I can say is that he and Peggy both seem to be very down to earth people who are not about to try and wow you with flashy Hollywood style videos, scripted speeches or anything like that. In fact I found the videos quite difficult to sit through in that they were so lacking a script that they felt like they were much longer than they needed to be. My time is so very limited that I prefer things to move quick in very step by step fashion and I don’t want the air filled up with unnecessary words such as um, ah etc. Of course I would be just as critical (as I have been of myself!) if things were too scripted so perhaps Alan and I should mix our two extreme approaches, fully scripted versus no script, and we would have the ultimate video style.

The positive to take out of this unscripted approach is that after listening for awhile you realise that Alan is sharing what he knows, what he and Peggy have experienced at the coal face, rather than theory. They certainly do seem to both offer a ‘what you see is what you get’ style and that can be refreshing in some ways given all the Hollywood style hype we see often. I still would like to see improvements so that people can move more quickly through the videos and if they want to slow down they can simply pause.

There is a lot included and the best way for you to get a feel for whether Peggy’s and Alan’s offer meets your current needs is to have a read through the details of each module that is shared on the sales page. If you do think there are some gems in there that you can learn from, (I learned some things from the few modules I’ve reviewed so far ), then you’ll be pleased to see that I’ve managed to secure a discount for you.

Check out the Maximize PLR offer here and if you feel this is something that could really help you then take advantage of the discounted price while it’s there.

I’d love to hear about the ideas you have to make money with PLR so please leave a comment below.

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1. An expression of panic, that everyone should forget about comradeship and save themselves.

You might recall a post I wrote a little while ago about customer care. In that post I talked about how customer care was a rare breed and people who put their customers’ needs first would do well: this is true today more than ever!

I see endless examples day in day out of people who operate from a mindset that says “What’s the best outcome for me and how can I get it in the shortest possible time with the least amount of energy invested.”

There’s not really a problem with wanting the best outcome for yourself is there? And surely there is no issue with trying to achieve those outcomes quickly without expending more time and energy than you have to. But if there are other people involved shouldn’t you be considering them and how they’ll be affected in your quest for your desired outcome too? Thinking along the lines of “What’s the best outcome for me and my customers and how can we get it in the shortest possible time with the least amount of energy invested.”

I’m not sure what it is that has led to what appears to be an ‘every man for himself’ approach to life for many people. It’s as though we are in a panic and that our very survival has gotten so threatened that we are now willing to trample over our own neighbour to get what we want.

Do you give even a fleeting consideration to what your actions might mean to someone else who is involved in your transaction, your group or whatever it is you’re doing to achieve a set outcome?

I wonder if the ‘buy now pay later’ addiction of today is also reflected in how we view our customers? Take their money today, deal with their dissatisfaction later?

Is it similar to smoking a pack a day and dealing with the emphysema later. Overeating fatty foods today and dealing with the high cholesterol later. Drinking too much today and dealing with kidney disease later. Spending too much today and dealing with the debt later.

Treat people with indifference and deal with their wrath later.

I’ve seen both site sellers and buyers, Internet marketers and other sales people who only seem to really care about what’s happening on their side of the fence. Their consideration for the other person or people involved seems almost close to zero in so many things they do. They work out how they can hype up their sales pitch the most, how they can inflate the value of what they’re selling beyond what they even consider it to be worth, they look for ways to create frenzies and so on.

Never fear, I’m not against marketing, I have done plenty of it myself. What I’m on about though has two components to it. One is a personal preference toward helping people. No not just “And in my spare time I like to read books, ride horses and help people.” No I mean truly help people! Put myself in their shoes. Guess what they might be thinking and ensure their own thoughts don’t convince them of something that’s not real. Think about them and what is best for them and their particular situation.

Someone displayed this type of consideration recently and although I expected it from them I was completely at their mercy to ‘do the right thing by me.’ I asked them whether their service/type of advertising would likely lead to me getting exposure through to my target customer. The answer was no, probably not, and then an explanation as to why. I knew there were plenty of ways they could have ’sold me’ on their product that costs several hundred dollars but they didn’t. I wish they had something I did need because that’s the type of person I want to do business with, the one who truly has my needs in mind.

This person understands that strategically it’s not going to make sense to convince me to advertise with them and then in the long run not get the desired results of which I might tell others and come back and complain to them. This is the second component to why I prefer to market a certain way, because it’s good for business when you consider things strategically over the long term. I could have handed over hundreds of dollars for advertising that wouldn’t suit me and given that company a short term boost in revenue but what are the long term affects to their brand for not ensuring their client’s needs meet what they can deliver on. It’s not as easy to convey everything in a sales letter online as it is to talk one on one with a customer, but it pays to try and send the right message to help you attract those customers who are a good fit for what you’re offering.

Will you reduce the amount of dollars you receive up front by turning off some customers who are not a good match to your offer? Of course you will which is why some people prefer to use sneaky tactics, make ‘innocent mistakes’ with how they portray what they’re selling, omit details that would be a clear signal to some that the product is not a good fit for them and generally stir up a lot of emotions and so on to get people foaming at the mouth for what they have on offer. I’m all for hungry customers, what I’m hoping you can realise though is that if you make me hungry for your secret menu of goodies you better make sure it’s vegetarian that you’re serving up because that’s the only food I eat. You can’t know everyone’s preferences but you can try hard to make clear what you’re offering and to who it might suit best.

If you’re serious about an online business, and even offline too actually, then you are crazy if you think you can get away with poor service or if you think you can come out unscathed if you mislead, inflate, hype up and pretty much not deliver on your promises to your customers.

Have you thought about the customer who actually might live around the corner from you who could have their AdSense account banned because of a questionable website you might sell them? Do you stop to think about anyone but yourself when calculating the multiple you might be able to get for a site you’re thinking of selling if you can just get the traffic and earnings to spike? Would you take a moment to think that a spike in traffic and earnings can lead to the site coming to Google’s attention? Are you thinking about the fact that the site could get deindexed and the associated AdSense account banned should a human review occur where it’s discovered that the scraped content is all that’s on offer and nothing much more.

When you decide you need $80K do you even think twice about promoting a $2000 product as an affiliate or are you just really excited and focused on the calculation you can make on what your list converts at, what date you can expect the affiliate commissions to be paid and how much interest you’ll save by rushing down to the bank and paying off a big chunk of your mortgage? Or are you having a nagging feeling in the back of your mind that says 99.9% of your subscribers don’t actually need what you’re about to send them to? Do you even take the time to do the due diligence on the person you’re promoting or do you just take them on face value because their face is pretty? Do you think you’re followers don’t see what you’re doing?

One thing I’ve learned about myself, about you and about most other people is that we’re not completely blind to what’s going on.

We’re not oblivious to the fact that someone said I should watch a sales video as it was full of great free ‘content’ when in fact there was not one piece of free ‘content’ in it, it was all pitch and they wasted my time. Did that marketer truly think I didn’t realise this was a referral for a new kid on the block and that they clearly had not watched the video themselves or they would have known there was no free ‘content’? It was obvious that they really didn’t have my best interests at heart at all otherwise they wouldn’t have sent me to that piece of rubbish – twice. They must have thought I was stupid because they sent me to the same offer a few days later only this time with a very lucrative bonus. I now finally gave up on this marketer who I’d somewhat grown to like but now realise they don’t care a flying banana about their subscribers and I don’t trust them anymore.

If you want to be someone like that, someone who employs short term tactics for quick rewards, whether that be for $500 or $80,000 then go right ahead, you will most likely win in the short term, even the long term if you can generate enough cash to pay for everything you need and then keep a low profile so you don’t get pelted with rotten eggs (oh what fun). If you don’t want to be looking over your shoulder, feeling sick at the site of your inbox because of nasty emails from irate customers, see your name up in lights for all the wrong reasons and generally end up being miserable, then try putting yourself in your customer’s shoes.

Try considering that you’re dealing with a person, a person who is no different to you, a person who wants to achieve things, a person who is parting with hard earned cash in the hope to reaching a goal. You never know, you might win them for life and actually build a sustainable business for the long term. Are there people with bad intentions? Of course there are but in the main, people are good. You might be able to help others realise that it’s not about being on one side of the fence or belonging to this type of group or that particular tribe. Whether we’re the buyer the seller, the coach or the student or the avenue that brings those things together, we are all just people and we have the power to help each other achieve by working with each other not against each other.

Michelle Adams
One Tribe Marketing

What are your thoughts on why we should take our customers into consideration more?

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The question about why we blog and how or even if it can change the world is a good one to ask. It’s easy to go straight down that path of thinking ‘oh I must change the world: world hunger, world peace, world wars etc. It’s overwhelming to think in terms of those things and although I care about those things and do certain things to help improve the hunger and peace issues I don’t do that through blogging. (Not yet anyway.)

My blogging journey to date began when I felt the need to share information about the truth. The truth about who you can trust online to help you earn a living and who you might possibly be best to avoid in that regard. Well my focus changed from ‘calling out’ problem products and marketers to a more positive one where I myself became the change I wanted to see…cliche I know! Sorry.

So for me and my current circumstances; it’s important to me that I show people ways they can have some freedoms, some choices about how they might earn extra money. That there are alternatives and although they might take work they offer you choices.

I’ve enjoyed immensely the frankness in which I’ve been able to deliver my message here so far: have the ability to be free to pretty much say it as it is. I’ve been humbled by the support I’ve had from my readers and it’s really shown me that you can help people, you can change their world for the better and that in turn can have an affect on those around them and so on, just like a ripple.

My vision for blogging at MichelleAdams.com is to continue to share my knowledge that I believe will help others but also to impact on a much deeper level than I have to date. To help people take even bigger steps than they feel they have or could in their lives to date.

If I can change your day for the better, even if it’s just a tiny bit, then I’ve changed the world.

–

As a unique way of looking at what blogging really means, a few of us gathered together our thoughts on how blogging can change the world and our individual lives. This is what we came up with:

“Can A Blog Change the World?” by Ruth: “Blogging as an opportunity to use your voice for what you truly believe in, changing your world for the better”.

“My Blogging Vision” by Lisa: “”When I started blogging back in October of 2007, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I’ve seen a lot of changes in my life since then yet my vision for my blog remains the same.”

“My Blogging Journey” by Stephen: “Life has been a journey of twists and turns for me. As an introvert it has sometimes been a little bit too stimulating…if life has taught me anything, it is that the world is an amazing place with so many struggles, challenges, opportunities and stories from real people.”

“At the Speed of Blog” by Steve: “What I have seen in the way mankind has changed in the form of communication during my lifetime.”

“All About Me” by Donny: “All About Me – Well maybe not all. I wanted to take a minute and give everyone a chance to get to know a bit about who I am, how I got here, what I hope to accomplish and why I am looking to Internet Marketing and, more specifically, Niche Blogging for income.”

“Turning Dreams Into Goals” by Donna: “For the past year my dream has been to make enough money working online so that both me and my husband could work from home. We have a business that I currently run from home and I wanted to turn that over to him while I created websites.”

“Why I Blog and Why I’ll Continue to Blog” by Michelle: Inspired by others who ‘care’, I got to thinking about the world we all live in and how we have this amazing communication channel we know as the World Wide Web: I wondered if by blogging, can I change the world? Here’s some of the thoughts that quickly came to mind”

“Blogging Vision 2010” by Jen: “AkitaJitsu’s “Niche Blogging for Non-Techies” is all about answering technical questions about building niche blogs in a non-technical way. Jen (aka, Akitajitsu) started the blog a few months ago, and has written a plan for the blog’s future. She hopes this blog will become a popular resource for niche bloggers.”

“Blogging to Change the World – My World” by Leslie: “Blogging can be a hobby, something you do for fun. For me, it changed my world for the better. It made my life the dreamlife I always envisioned.”

“Niche Blogging” by Loren: “Making goals, missing goals and maintaining blogging relationships.”

I know that many of you who have considered selling web property haven’t even tried it for fear of the site transfer among other things. Many of my survey respondents I’ve had the good fortune to hear from, expressed that they are fearful of the site transfer and concerned with not having anyone to help them should they get into a technical pickle. Advice on how to make sites look good, what types of sites to build and sell and some general hand holding, feedback and advice on developing virtual real estate were some of the other things mentioned in the survey responses.

I also wrote in my last post that I’d have some news to share with you this week about helping you with those challenges. So what is the news? Well I’ve been very busy compiling an ebook that specifically addresses pretty much all of the major issues you and others told me you had!

Now when I say ebook, well it’s not just any old ebook if I must say so myself. This is a book that covers in minute detail every step of how to build and sell premium niche blogs.

Who is this book for?

This is a book for anyone who is willing to learn the ropes and open their minds to the world of virtual real estate development. It’s for anyone who is interested in learning how to build premium niche blogs from start to finish and how to sell and transfer them to a new owner.

This ebook is also for all those people who asked me how I build the sites I do, how I choose my niches, how I made the sites look so nice and how I manage to have a high sell through rate. This is for everyone who has asked how to take their site selling beyond the most basic level.

Finally this is for anyone who needs a step-by-step plan that covers in practical detail, every part of the process of how to build a niche blog and how to sell it if they so desire.

“Learn How To Build And Sell Niche Blogs” is broken down into six easy to follow modules:

Module 1 – Location Location Location
Module one jumps right into niche selection and choosing your domain name.
You’ll learn a variety of ways of sourcing your niche content and by the end of
the module you’ll be ready to start building your blog.

Module 2 – Laying the Foundations
The technical foundations of how to set up your site are all spelled out clearly
in module two. Hosting, cpanel, WordPress, Plugins and more are all covered
step by detailed step!

Module 3 – Design Aspects
If you’re artistically challenged this module is going to help you a lot! You’ll
learn how to select colours, customise your site beautifully and even create a
header image! By the end of this module your web site will really start to come
to life.

Module 4 – Finishing Touches
In this module you’ll add the finishing touches such as images, videos and the
all important monetisation models. By the end of module four the foundations
are set, the designers have been in and the property is ready to be sold!

Module 5 – Develop or Sell
In module five you’re faced with the decision of whether to keep your site and
develop it further or sell it. Whenever you do decide to sell, this module will
take you every step of the way through the auction listing process at
Flippa.com: Flippa.com is the number one marketplace for buying and selling
websites.

Module 6 – Handover
Finally the time has come to transfer your website to the new owner. Module
six takes you step-by-step through the site transfer process and by the end of
this module you’ll discover just how easy it is to do.

There is one thing that an ebook can’t give you though no matter how wonderful and jam packed it is, and that is specific feedback, advice, technical support and general hand holding. Well here is the really exciting part of the news!

When you purchase your copy of “Learn How To Build And Sell Niche Blogs“, for a limited time only you will get FREE entry into a new support area where myself and others will help answer your virtual real estate development questions! You won’t be left out on your own!

For a limited time not only will you gain FREE lifetime access to our support, you’ll also be able to grab the book at a very low introductory price! This introductory offer is for a limited time only though so act fast if you want to get in and save some money too!

If you’re keen to learn more then go and watch the very awesome VRED video…even if you’re not keen you should watch the video anyway, it’s really cool…oh and turn the volume up! (Looking forward to seeing all the VRED VIPs in the Vault. )

Watch The Awesome VRED Video!

PS Let me know what you think of the video; it sure was a lot of fun to produce!

Well not much seems to have changed since seven years ago. The search results I saw today on the first page of Google when I typed in make money from home were in the main about earning through surveys. Surveys? Is that it? The top ten results in the world and they’re all pretty much about taking surveys!? (Even though I searched global, the results I see in Australia will be different to what you see in your country although there were still plenty of .com sites interspersed with the .com.au sites.)

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you can’t make money from home by taking surveys but if you took the page one search results as any indication you might think that was your only option. Well isn’t it good news that taking surveys is not the only option!

What about you? Do you recall the searches you typed in when you first started looking for ways to make extra money, start a little business or simply find a J.O.B. you could do from home like I wanted to? Maybe you typed in home business or work at home mum jobs.

Cast your mind back and think about what it was you wanted to achieve when you first started looking. I wrote a post quite a few months ago about how easy it is to lose sight of that initial desire to earn an extra $100 or so a month, especially once you stumble on the make money online market.

Have you achieved even your most humble goal yet, you know the one where you thought to yourself “Wow, if I could just earn an extra $100 a month that would ease the pressure.” or “If the $300 a month car payment was taken care of it would really help.”

Have you achieved those initial goals yet or have you gotten caught up in the dreaming and not really ‘doing’? Or are you tired of dreaming and moved on to sheer skepticism where you don’t believe it’s really possible to earn $100 a month from home?

I think everyone goes through that stage where they believe it’s not real, there is no ‘real money’ coming out of the Internet and many give up and walk away. I tend to be a little more (okay a lot more!) tenacious than that and would rather prove it does or doesn’t work once and for all rather than walk away not really knowing for certain.

Well the good news is that there are so many ways to make money online that it’s mind boggling! Take your pick! I have yet to try a method that doesn’t actually work, that doesn’t bring in some money! That’s right! I’ve yet to try a method that doesn’t bring in some money!

Do you get the concept of scaling up? In terms of making money online generally it’s about bedding down a system and then duplicating what you’ve already done, over and over. When I set out to prove whether or not you can make money from AdSense and I actually made a few dollars quickly and easily, it was obvious that multiple sites would equal more AdSense income.

So I proved to myself that yes, people do actually click on the ads, yes Google do actually deposit money into my account and they don’t ask for it back! And I’ve proven that you can get clicks as high as $1, $2, $3 plus. Nothing new is it but me being me, I had to prove it to myself. You might be thinking like I did that, well that’s AdSense, it’s Google, ok it’s going to work but don’t peeve Google or you’re out of luck if they ban your account. That’s true and I’ve previously written about not having all your eggs in one basket but what amazes me is how quickly we forget that a J.O.B. can be ripped from underneath us at any moment too.

So what about trying to make money from this thing called blogging and making affiliate commissions, that’s just little old us talking about stuff on our blogs with some ads and affiliate links thrown in, does it work? Yes. I don’t have a ton of traffic like YouTube does but again, if I make some affiliate commission here and there it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if I increase my traffic that I will likely make more affiliate commission.

That’s two options, what about the much crowed about ‘product creation’ idea? You know the one where you write an ebook, pop it into ClickBank where affiliates could choose to promote your product for you and you sit back and bank cheques, surely it isn’t that easy right? Yes it really can be that easy, I’ve done it.

I wanted to try more methods, learn the theories, put them into action; prove them, disprove them, whatever the outcome I wanted to know if I could get even a few dollars from a method because from there I knew I or anyone else could scale that if they chose to and see some success. (Are you getting the idea that I was one of those kids in the lolly shop choosing one of everything? )

I wondered about selling the stuff? What stuff? You know all this virtual real estate that we can develop in a zillion different ways, can it really be sold? If you’ve been around these parts a while now I think you would know that I’ve well and truly discovered that yes you can sell it!

What about writing? There are professional web writers who have so much work on their hands that they can afford to outsource it to their own team of writers! I’m not talking about people who write for $2 an article no. I’m referring to professional web writers, I’m talking about writers who command a minimum $10 per article and often charge $15 to $25 an article. Can that really be done, really? Yes, I personally know a professional web writer who commands $25 an article!

Need I go on?

What I’m trying to say is that if you want to make money from home there are plenty of ways other than taking surveys! Sounds easy in theory I know, and to be perfectly honest it’s not all a walk in the park. It’s not necessarily only about taking an ebook, working through it and hey presto it’s all gonna’ work out fine! Even the most basic technical things can seem insurmountable when you begin something new, I know I avoided selling web property for a long time due to the ‘dreaded site transfer.’

Working through difficulties on your own isn’t really a lot of fun either and can often contribute to the ‘give up’ factor. Personally, I’ve found learning new things to be much more enjoyable when I’ve bought a solid product that offers some level of support.

I have paid out literally thousands of dollars on training materials and to be coached by some of the best online marketers around, I’ve spent hours working through tutorials on difficult programs, on technical problem solving, on finding out for myself whether something works and how. I’ve been burned by some over hyped offers too! And it’s after all that time, testing and investment that I know you can make money from home online and not just one way. So if you’ve been rather skeptical then try to get past that. Stop wasting time wondering and start doing instead. Prove it to yourself; it can be done.

What I’ve discussed in this post is doable by people just like you, you can make money with AdSense, you can make money with ebooks, you can make money selling web property, you can develop virtual real estate so many ways and make money.

The problem that comes after finally believing it’s possible to make money online is one of choice.

The choices are so many that you can often find yourself not actually ‘doing’ any of them or if you do there are more questions left unanswered than answered, which can lead to frustration and you giving up on that particular method.

I know that many of you who have considered selling web property haven’t even tried it for fear of the site transfer among other things. Many of my survey respondents I’ve had the good fortune to hear from, expressed that they are fearful of the site transfer and concerned with not having anyone to help them should they get into a technical pickle. Advice on how to make sites look good, what types of sites to build and sell and some general hand holding, feedback and advice on developing virtual real estate were some of the other things mentioned in the survey responses.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has downloaded and read my free QuikCash ebook and taken the time to answer the survery questions, you’ve helped me gain a good understanding of the areas you would like specific help with. I’ll have some news to share in the coming week about how I can help you more so watch this space!

In one of the comments Peggy asked how to price a basic blog to sell, you can read my answer in the reply where I also linked to two sites I sold: A basic blog sold for $127 and a premium niche blog sold for $297.

Moving from a basic blog flip to the more premium level blogs is a great way to offer more to potential buyers and subsequently increase your chances of selling at a higher price point.

There are so many ways to develop web property and you can create your own unique combination of what you offer for sale. A blog with a forum integrated is a nice extra touch or including a reasonable quality PLR ebook with customised graphics is another great way to add value to your packages. When you are more proficient at building out blogs quickly you can build two at once that compliment each other and either sell them together as a type of bonus offer or put one up for sale and offer the other to the same buyer.

If the basics such as the site transfer are still haunting you then go over to Josh’s blog and read my guest post and comments where I’ve covered off a lot, including this response to Paul’s question regarding the amount of technical work involved:

@Paul There are technical aspects to this and when it’s stepped out on virtual paper it looks and sounds long and cumbersome, but when you have a little bit of experience you can be in and out of a site transfer in 10 to 20 minutes. Of course there are exceptions but in the main it’s relatively quick and easy.

Check out Website Flipping 101 – 10 Steps To Quick VRE Cash.

Although I like to consider plans for the future more than I enjoy looking back on the past, I think it’s important to reflect and be open to really ’seeing’ what I created in my life, how that served me and how to learn from that for the coming year.

When I think about 2009 and the few years prior to that I can encapsulate them in one word -  ‘progressive’. Offline and online I feel I’ve made a tremendous amount of progress and that progress wasn’t restricted to only the aspects of my life that I set specific goals in, it also came in areas I didn’t expect it.

In terms of my online businesses there are many tangible accomplishments I’ve seen in 2009 and those things were achieved as a result of not just what I did this past year but rather a cumulative affect of all I’ve learned and done over many years. Looking back I can see that I quite literally have experienced a snowball effect beginning with my early ebook writing days in 2006 and my very first self-taught website build in 2007.

It wasn’t long after that that I took one of the major success factors I’d used offline and applied it to my online goals – I employed a mentor. After almost 18 months of solid Internet marketing coaching, advice, virtual kicks-up-the-butt and what have you from my mentor Josh Spaulding, I stand even more strong by what I’ve written previously – a quality mentor, coach, guide or what ever name you like to call it, plays a SIGNIFICANT part in how much success you will see and how fast you will see it. The other significant component is YOU.

In 2009 I also joined a program offered by Yaro Starak. This was a large investment in terms of dollars and I would pay it over again and then some for what I’m learning from Yaro. When I look at all the things I’ve learned, experienced and achieved over the last five years I can categorically say that my mentors have helped propel me forward in so many ways, so much more quickly than when I was going it alone.

I’ve joined other programs along the way and learned a lot, bought software to speed up my tasks both off and online and continued to invest in my business education via books, ecourses, ebooks, community forums, blogs and more. At the same time I’ve enjoyed the practical side of proving or disproving a lot of the theory I’ve digested.

I’m very grateful that I’ve had the good fortune of being able to invest so heavily in my online education to date, both with my time and money and I’m acutely aware that not everyone currently has the capacity to do the same. That brings me to the year ahead. For me 2010 is a year in which I hope to be able to transfer my knowledge, experience and learning to you and others so you can live a better life, achieving the things you set out to and to have the things in your life that you desire.

I hope you had a wonderful 2009 and I thank you for your patronage to my blog throughout the year. I wish you a very happy New Year and look forward to working with you in 2010!

2009 – the year that was progressive.

Dave Slutzkin General Manager Flippa.com and Luke Moulton Marketing Manager Flippa.com

It was great meeting the guys in person and we managed to discuss a lot of topics but there was one thing in particular I really wanted to put to rest and here was my chance to hear it straight from the source, in person! (Yep I’m lucky I live in Melbourne. )

So what was the one thing I was most keen to get answered?

My question was whether or not Flippa were actively trying to move the low end of the market out of their business. The short answer is no.

Do they want to do away with sites that are complete junk? The short answer is yes.

What becomes problematic for Flippa is determining what is or isn’t junk. What I believe is junk might not be to the next person. You know that old saying, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so it’s a delicate balance for Flippa to be impartial to a degree on what they encourage to appear on their listings page.

I know a lot of people’s perception is that the low end was being forced out due to the high cost of doing business with Flippa. That might be true in a couple of cases such as:

1. You want to offer junk sites that sell for $50 so therefore it’s not worth your trouble due to the fees.

Well I’m sure you would agree that if higher fees results in the number of junk listings being reduced, then great.

Or

2. You are new to the game and everything takes so long to learn,  it’s very difficult to produce sites fast, they don’t sell quickly because your trust rating isn’t established and you generally are flying blind making the whole exercise one that returns a very low hourly rate at the outset.

You perhaps can relate to this second point and yes it can be like that, but everyone has to start somewhere. So why would you start out selling websites at Flippa.com if it’s going to mean your costs are high compared to starting out on a free or very low cost marketplace? In fact Sakana made a comment pointing out the alternative marketplaces on my Fee Squeeze At Flippa post. Here is the comment I left in response to Sakana:

Michelle commented:

As you’ve quite clearly shown, alternative marketplaces are a dime a dozen, each of them with their own set of pros and cons. (I warn anyone considering any of the above sites to give due diligence to assessing the pros and cons/risks of those marketplaces.)

I’ve had great success with the Flippa marketplace and just because I’m vocal about their policies does not mean I suggest walking away from them. They are an industry leader and their impressive results speak for themselves.

Flippa Stats As At Dec 4 2009:

* 1,117 Listings Open Now
* 1,137 Bids Last 7 Days
* $186,770 Sales Last 7 Days
* 40% Listings Sold Last 3 Months
* $28,643,898 Sales Overall

As I’ve mentioned above, I am vocal about Flippa’s policies and in no way consider the marketplace perfect but along with the cons of Flippa there are a great deal of pros. Let’s get the cons out of the way first.

• The marketplace in its Flippa incarnation is young and with that comes teething problems.
• In an attempt to quickly improve things decisions are made perhaps without enough forethought and at the end of the day don’t really hit the mark.
• The business is still finding its feet in terms of how to please a very broad customer base, which in the cold light of day translates to upsetting at least one segment of their user base when they implement certain changes. (Yep, they’ve upset me a time or two.)
• The constant changes, although often for the better, can be confusing and or difficult to keep up with.
• The fees eat away a not so tiny percentage of the net profit of a successful listing, in particular when selling at the lower end of the market.

Those points are how I see things and I’m sure there are different pros and cons for different users, I’m only sharing the way I see it.

And the pros?

• In the last seven days there were 1,195 bids and sales to the value of $178,682. Over the last three months 39% of listings sold and right now there are 1,063 listings open. The overall reported sales volume is $28,828,896. Those are no small figures and if you ever needed social proof that this is one marketplace worthy of transacting in then there it is. (Yeah, I’m not the only one who sells there. )
• A higher fee structure sees less junk being listed (unfortunately not zero junk ), which in turn gives the marketplace a better name, the probability of a more genuine user base and a thriving marketplace.
• Although it’s not fool proof, and probably never will be, Flippa are going to great lengths to find ways of making your transactions as safe as possible.
• Flippa have proven many times over that they are willing to listen to their customers, they are a young and vibrant business who have proven that they are not only flexible but nimble in their attempts to improve things based on customer feedback.
• And last but not least, you know who you are dealing with! Flippa is a sister company to SitePoint and 99 Designs, two businesses that are far from small.

The last bullet point needs your full attention. Why? Because when you’re considering selling web property you are more likely to focus on the costs of a marketplace rather than who is behind it. You need to know whether you’re dealing with a solid business or a fly by night set up or a marketplace where it’s pretty much a free for all! I haven’t operated in any other marketplace so I cannot confidently give you a run down of the pros and cons of the myriad of sites out there, just be sure you do a lot of research before jumping in to anything.

If you’re serious about buying and selling websites I highly recommend you get familiar with Flippa.com, check out the listings, see what’s selling, see what trends you can find in the marketplace and get to know the business a little. When you jump in I’m sure you’ll love it but remember, not every site sells first time every time so don’t let a few of your unsold auctions scare you away.
If you haven’t grabbed my free ebook on setting up basic blogs and selling them on Flippa then go and get your copy now, plenty of others have and they’ve already sold their first sites! You can grab your free copy of Virtual Real Estate QuikCash here.

If you had a chance to talk to Dave and Luke from Flippa in person, what would you want to ask? Let me know in the comments box and I’ll be sure to set up a time to chat to them again and ask on your behalf.