Sold a Million Dollar Website. AMA

Wut. Congrats man. Gotdamn. :smile:

Q: What did you do differently with this brand? What were some of the most important lessons you've learned with this project?
 
Q1: Why did you sell?

Q2: How long did it take to build the brand to this level of revenue?

Q3: What is the percentage breakdown of revenue streams? Affiliate, ad revenue, etc?

Q4: How many people were involved with building the website on a day to day basis (including outsourcers, contractors)?
 
Very excited when I logged in and saw this. Thanks for your kind words and for giving us the privilege of playing host to this thread.

1)I'm curious on your thoughts about going with a broker as opposed to listing on Flippa in hindsight, and if you would go that route again.

2) I know what % FEI charges to sell a smaller site (worth <100k), curious if there's any room for negotiation when you come to them with a big site.
 
The auction thread you linked to says you rose to this height and flipped within 2 years time.

Did you have a good bit of funding for this operation, whether from yourself or outside sources, or was it bootstrapped? If it was funded, how quickly do you feel you could attain a similar success without any funding, literally from the ground up?
 
Already congrated you on WF, now here! Cheers boss
 
Congrats Tavin. That's something to be proud of right there. I'd definitely like to see the answers to @Kevin 's questions. Also interested in knowing how much effort you put into SEO vs earning traffic through other methods vs straight up buying traffic.
 
Hey Tavin. Thanks for this thread! How many sites do you build at any one time? Is your focus purely on one site, flip it, move onto the next or?
 
Congrats @Tavin
I'm with @stackcash regarding SEO vs traffic leaking etc. When you approach a brand site/s, what are you first steps to generating traffic and sustaining it? SEO? Paid? Social? etc

Thanks for joining us here! your an inspiration to many, if not all, of us!
 
1. Do you still follow the steps on your original site flipping thread?
2. If not what has changed since than, what have you incorporated, what do you consider more important than before or less important?
3. The site was making over 300k/year, why did you decide to sell it off?

Grats. Go easy on the hookers and blow
 
Is this Tavin's Magnum Opus? 1M seems to be the threshold at which point we get blue-balled.
 
MetaData said:
Very excited when I logged in and saw this. Thanks for your kind words and for giving us the privilege of playing host to this thread.

1)I'm curious on your thoughts about going with a broker as opposed to listing on Flippa in hindsight, and if you would go that route again.

2) I know what % FEI charges to sell a smaller site (worth <100k), curious if there's any room for negotiation when you come to them with a big site.
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Curious to know about #2 this well. I've done a couple deals through FEI and on one of them they volunteered to lower the commission by 3% to get the deal done, so its definitely possible. That was a smaller site though.
 
Congrats Tavin. 2 year old site, 2 years since you posted your enlightened thread on WF. Love that you proved the model then went out and scaled it in a major way.

Nice work!
 
Congrats on the continued success, @Tavin. Really looking forward to reading your response to everyone's questions.
 
How were the earnings generated in terms of... how do I explain this...

Was it ad impressions all around the site or was there some other unique money making aspect? Did you find it was an 80/20 thing where one portion or part of the site made the money? Was it an even spread or were a few things bringing the bacon? I hope that makes sense.

Thanks for the AMA! Congratulations on the sale!
 
Tavin,

If you can, what niches turned most profitable to you?

And what niches would you advice if someone was just all about creating the site, getting it profitable and then making a nice (7 figures at least) exit?

Any experience or info/advice regarding weight loss/health/fitness niches?

How negotiation process looks like? What questions possible buyers may have?

How fat is the cut you ready to give out to the broker (are there any limits...) ?

What kind of traffic is perceived as a more valuable one?

Are you able to take better exit from organic traffic or paid traffic powered sites?

In your experience or knowledge, what CMS or other system is best perceived by the buyers?
 
BTW,
Once I saw his avatar I knew this guy is familiar...

215.jpg


and now I know...

[image went down]

It's the same guy. Sure he made his figures so that's why he looks a bit younger now but... You see this right?

P.S I don't know which one Tavin is but it doesn't matter. The guy who hang around with "that" guy must be serious.
 
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I'm telling you:

1M is the tipping point.

I don't blame him though.

If I came up on that kind of "Fuck You" money, the last thing on my mind would be satiating the proletariate's desperate curiosity.

(I'd be drinking for a week straight, and using the next week to recover and sleep in every day)
 
Sorry for the delay, I was busy getting my ass kicked by the Flu

apologies for any typos, didn't proof read (Trying to catch up on lost time)

Scotch or Vodka?
Click to expand...

Binge Drinking in Vegas? Vodka. Celebrating this sale? Scotch.

Q: What did you do differently with this brand? What were some of the most important lessons you've learned with this project?
Click to expand...

There were a lot of things that I still wanted to complete, that imo we're unfinished (Youtube channel, etc.), but I made an effort to not cut corners on content, or social media. Content was truly this brand's product. In the end some of those unfinished ideas helped sell the brand by showing the obvious untapped potential to the buyer.


Q1: Why did you sell?

Q2: How long did it take to build the brand to this level of revenue?

Q3: What is the percentage breakdown of revenue streams? Affiliate, ad revenue, etc?

Q4: How many people were involved with building the website on a day to day basis (including outsourcers, contractors)?
Click to expand...

1. The brand hit the point where, I could take it no further unless I went all in and dedicated 100% of my time and resources to it. The brand deserved it, I just didn't want to put all of my energy into the project, because I already had a couple other projects I wanted to pursue. So I treated the sale as a capital infusion for the other projects.

2. It took about a 6 months to get the revenue to those levels, but I had prior knowledge that I gained from previous projects, and people that I worked with. This brand was the culmination of years of learning, testing, and working/learning with others on other projects.

3. For the majority of the life of the brand, it was 75% + affiliate revenue. Towards the last 2 months it was much more diversified with "Social Revenue" (Display ads). I love this revenue because you are getting directly paid for eyeballs and not sales. The key is making sure those eyeballs are focused and high quality (Demographics).

It took a long time to figure out the right setup to maximize "Social Revenue". For example the Glam/Brash/Mode network used to pay pretty well, but really shit the bed the last couple of months. It was a mixture of In content ads/In-image ads/and Taboola that paid well.

4. The number would change all the time, but in the beginning it was mostly hired writers, then once the site was established, everyone wanted to write for free. Every now and then I would have to reach out for help if I couldn't figure something out (<3 Abhi). I also have a small team of VAs that I used on several different sites, and they would work on it as well. Towards the final 4-6 months of the site, I brought on a Brand manager, that I would work together with on Trello, and he really made a big difference. He took out the bottleneck between me and the content.


1)I'm curious on your thoughts about going with a broker as opposed to listing on Flippa in hindsight, and if you would go that route again.

2) I know what % FEI charges to sell a smaller site (worth <100k), curious if there's any room for negotiation when you come to them with a big site.
Click to expand...


1. This is a great question. Looking back I wonder how Flippa would have turned out. For any sale 100k +, I always say use a broker, but this site was very well known socially, and I think if it was listed on flippa, the sale itself could have went viral, but i'm not sure if that would have been a good or bad thing. That many eyeballs bring in thousands of new variables of copycats, ddos attacks, malware, etc. I'm satisfied with using a broker. A lot of research went into who I choose to use (FEI)

2. I know they're flexible, but I wanted them to work their ass off for us. So I agreed to their full % (10%), and it was worth it. They worked very hard, and never quit. The sale was filled with many high points, and low points. It was a very long 6 month period. I couldn't have done it without them. Thomas the owner of FEI is very knowledgeable, and I never once felt like I had to explain anything to him. He gets it. His broker team is very professional and knowledgeable as well.

On a sidenote, I would not have used Flippa's DealFlow. I hate how there is no sense of urgency, but they were flexible on the % as well.

The auction thread you linked to says you rose to this height and flipped within 2 years time.

Did you have a good bit of funding for this operation, whether from yourself or outside sources, or was it bootstrapped? If it was funded, how quickly do you feel you could attain a similar success without any funding, literally from the ground up?
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I've been building sites for a while now, and have had success in affiliate sales as well. I have a good amount of money saved up. I never had a set amount of funding set for this project, it was more of an ad-hoc approach where I spent where I felt I needed it. I can tell you the cost of entry is much lower than most people would imagine. The highest cost of entry was the price of the domain name itself.

I do feel if I ever wanted to have a mega sale (10 mil+), you would have to come in with heavy funding and a dedicated content team, and strategy.

I feel that I maxed out the hodge podge spend as you go model with this sale, not sure I could ever sell for any higher without more structure.


How many sites do you build at any one time? Is your focus purely on one site, flip it, move onto the next or?
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In the past I would focus on 5-10 sites at one time through Trello. (25k - 75k sales). Now I focus on 2-3 sites with the goal of sales of 100k each. I also am planning a mega project on devise.com (plugs coming soon! lol). I really want to swing for the fences and try to create something on the level of vice.com


I'm with @@stackcash regarding SEO vs traffic leaking etc. When you approach a brand site/s, what are you first steps to generating traffic and sustaining it? SEO? Paid? Social? etc
Click to expand...

CC's thread of traffic leaking was very eye opening, I was using it as some levels, but never had a name for it, but the level he uses it, is far past what I was doing. I use the approach of viewing SEO/Traffic Leaking/Etc. as weapons for marketing.

In the end, all that matters is marketing. Your goal is to get the eyeballs you want on your product.

For this project, most of the traffic was a mixture of social/organic traffic. The better the site did on social the better it would do for any organic seo campaigh I would try. Social (Real social triggers) is the key that opens the door of trust from Google.

I've worked with some of the very best in SEO, and every affiliate site that as done well, had a strong foundation of social. Anyone who says social isn't needed for SEO, is only doing themselves a disservice. Sure you can rank with a great PBN, but without social you'll be figured out. You won't last.

This site had several pages rank for 80,000 (monthly) unique keywords for 2 years. 2 years. Social + niche relevant, authority backlinks is how it was done.

1. Do you still follow the steps on your original site flipping thread?
2. If not what has changed since than, what have you incorporated, what do you consider more important than before or less important?
3. The site was making over 300k/year, why did you decide to sell it off?
Click to expand...

1. I follow more so the idea and outline than the precise steps. Everything is always changing, but the basic strategy still works very well.

2. I put much more focus into Social Media, and spending money to build a following or gain social traction.

3. Nothing lasts forever, and the site is still doing very well, but it was a lot of work to keep up with the content, fans, and my heart just wasn't in it for the niche.


Was it ad impressions all around the site or was there some other unique money making aspect? Did you find it was an 80/20 thing where one portion or part of the site made the money? Was it an even spread or were a few things bringing the bacon? I hope that makes sense.
Click to expand...

In the beginning of the site, the revenue was very dependent on one merchant. This merchant moved from CJ to Impact Radius, and the revenue was cut in half. It was a dark time, but the best thing that ever happened because it forced me to diversify, and now the site(s) are heavily diversified from 15+ revenue sources.


If you can, what niches turned most profitable to you?

And what niches would you advice if someone was just all about creating the site, getting it profitable and then making a nice (7 figures at least) exit?

Any experience or info/advice regarding weight loss/health/fitness niches?

How negotiation process looks like? What questions possible buyers may have?

How fat is the cut you ready to give out to the broker (are there any limits...) ?

What kind of traffic is perceived as a more valuable one?

Are you able to take better exit from organic traffic or paid traffic powered sites?

In your experience or knowledge, what CMS or other system is best perceived by the buyers?
Click to expand...

1. The most profitable niches i've dealt with are Diet, Fitness, Tech, and Auto.

2. The weight loss/health/fitness niche is very tough. Before entering I would form a solid team, it's going to take a strong set of people to make it work.

3. The questions from buyers are all over the place, every time I think i'm prepared or have heard it all, I get questions that I never would have expected. The best advice is to be honest.

4. 10% is the highest I would go for a cut to the broker.

5. Organic traffic is king. Nothing pays like it. Go for keywords that have purchase intent. (top, best, cheap, etc.). Social traffic is much harder to monetize, but if you can figure it out, it's obviously very scalable.

6. Buyers like to see a good mix of traffic, they seem to get spooked if the traffic is from too much of one source, doesn't matter if it's organic, paid, social. They want to see diversification. For sales under 50k, you can get away with this, but the higher level of buyer isn't naive.

7. Buyers love CMS in general. I've sold sites on Wordpress, Drupal, Opencart, Magento, etc.


I'm telling you:

1M is the tipping point.

I don't blame him though.

If I came up on that kind of "Fuck You" money, the last thing on my mind would be satiating the proletariate's desperate curiosity.

(I'd be drinking for a week straight, and using the next week to recover and sleep in every day)
Click to expand...

I'm built different. I've been to the top before and the fall was that much harder. You get humbled quick. It took years of learning, hard work, and working/learning from others to get where i'm at today. I would never turn my back on the group of people that helped me along the way. If I did that, it would go against everything i've stood for in the past. That will never happen. Ethics Matter.
 
@Tavin Thanks for answering all these questions. It seems more and more that Social aspects of websites is the tipping point of whether something will go viral or not. Have you ever had an instance where something went viral that was not attributed to social aspect? I couldn't imagine this is very likely, but i recently read a story on Emoji masks and it was a product that was submitted to product site that went viral.

Thanks for answering all these questions. Hope you feel better soon
 
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