Popular Article Site with Lots of Features - Unique, Not a Script!

Url: Article Depot

Description: Article Submission Site with features such as Quick Submit (No need to User to sign up), Article Stream (CMS), Support Forum (phpBB), Robust Admin Panel for Approvals, RSS Feeds, Existing User Base, Banner Managent System and a variety of other features that have generated organic links.

Layout: Site is unique, strong css, template site that has been designed especially to have unique titles, descriptions, etc. Not a script so you won't see another site like it (Unless they copied the visual aspect)

Content: The vast majority of content is submitted by the users of the site. We also have deals with another major site where the articles submitted by their users are automatically also submitted to Article Depot.

Age of Site: Couple of Months shy of a year

Traffic: Currently there is around 450-500 uniques a day (13,500 - 15,000 /month). This has grown every single month since its debut. A lot of it has been from various article site directories, normal directories, blog reviews, and recomendations. Increasingly, traffic has been coming from SE's as the site has ranked Top 3 for terms like "Article Submission" and "Free Article Submission" from time to time. AWStats screenshots can be made available to serious bidders only (You have to be a bidder or be someone I know from this forum or elsewhere). Just PM me if this is a crucial part of your bidding.


Pagerank: PR4 although it has gone up every update...The amount of natural inbounds has increased quite a bit since the last update and I fully expect judging by the increased rankings and traffic, the PR will also be going up.

Earnings:
AdSense - Around $35-$40 per month on what is a under-utilized site when it comes to ads. I have purposely held back from adding ads to the actual content of the articles but I suspect you could easily double to triple the AdSense by doing it. I personally haven't done it because I was keen to grow user base which tends to like less ads. How you strike that balance is up to you however.

Link Sales/Advertisements - Sold purely on traffic its been around $250 / month ... The image ads on the left side are the most valuable bringing in around $50 a month on their own. The rotating banners generally get around $30 a month although the default ad is AdSense which is counted in the AdSense revenue above.

Thats has put the revenue at times at $300 per month although Link Sales require maintanence on the owners part (Sending renewal notices, listing them for sale, etc)

For a few months I was selling Coop Weight at $249 per month but haven't got that going again...The buyer has bought a few sites so no longer requires it.

Why am I selling: Basically I have come across a perfect storm of sorts. I have recently built a new house which has put strain on both my wallet and my time. Although this site requires a small amount of maintenance time, I haven't been able to give it the time and attention it deserves. I have put 100's of hours into building it up, giving it a unique look and features so the decision to sell has been a difficult one. I was basically encouraged by a previous sale of a site I was attached to where the new owner was able to make a big earner out of it and really gave it the love it deserved.

What you get: Unique layout, logo, link buyers info for renewals etc, Subscriber Base, database, 6 months free hosting, domain, and anything else you see when you go to the site.
Site requires around an hour a day for approvals if you are extremely quality conscience or as little as 5 minutes a day if you aren't so picky.


Starting price: $1000
Reserve Price: $1500 (Won't Sell for less then that)
BIN: $3500
Payment: Paypal, Check or Money Order (Check has to clear before transfer starts)
Auction ends: 7 days from this post - Jan 10th at 8pm GMT

I will provide 6 months worth of hosting so you will get cPanel passwords, etc and have full control right away. You can then take your time transfering the site to your own host, etc. I have found this to be the best way as the buyer doen't have to worry about depending on the seller to do things. They have full control from the start!

I am basing the amount I want for it keeping a few thing in mind:

1.) 12x Earnings = $3,600
2.) Coop Weight - 4,500 which is usually adds around $4-500 to a sale
3.) PR4 - That would usually add around $400 to the sale although I believe the other SE factors would put it around $600 if it was selling by itself
4.) Traffic - 500 uniques a month is a great starting point for anyone in a popular nich so the traffic alone should worth $500

That puts my estimate at arouond $5,000 but I am hoping by having a lower Buy it Now I can make a quicker sale and leave the buyer completely satisfied that they got a great deal.

If you would like a reference to a person who has bought a site from me for signifigant money ($1,500 +), I can provide it. I stand by my sales so I have no problem having you PM them.

A few added items I couldn't fit into the above:
1.) Number of Members: 360+ (A lot of people also use the Quick Submit)
2.) Number of Subscribers: 120+
3.) Avg Number of Submissions per Day: 75-100
4.) Article Stream - This CMS which is for sale on the site comes with the deal. I currently have a deal with the software developer that they keep the revenue as I made the deal to add unique services (The software itself is unique)...There isn't a written contract nor a time frame so it will be up to the new owner if they want to negotiate new terms.

SE Stuff
Google Backlinks: 450+
Yahoo Backlinks: 14,500+
MSN Backlinks: 6,021+
Pages Indexed in Google: 21,500
Coop Weight: 4,000+

 

I have gone through all the PMs and hopefully gotten to all of them. If I have not gotten back to you it is by accident so please resend (Like I said, I don't think I missed any)

I appreciate some people want to keep their interest private so if I receive official bids, I will post them in this thread without revealing your username.

Thanks for the interest so far!

 

Sorry to see you selling this thing.

Do you know if the articles are unique (I know the ones i've put there are), but others - do you know if they are put on lots of other sites too?

 

I would imagine they aren't only by my own habits...When I write an article I tend to submit it to 2 or 3 sites. That said they are all either hand submitted or recieved from our partner (which are also hand submitted)

If the site doesn't end up selling I will be giving it minimal maintenance and then putting a lot more time into it once my circumstances change. I still see the potential in it, I just don't have the resources to institute them yet.

Cheers

 

I'm interested... sent you a PM

Thanx

 

Got it...Its a bit long so just give me an hour or so to send out the reply


Cheers

 

How many people did you send copies of the database to and how many articles at that time were included (so I can determine how many copies there are out there roughly and how many articles left now are unique-ish).

 

I would like to see the traffic and revenue stats. Its really nice to see you again

 

There were 4 sold when it hit 20,000 and I expect it to hit 40,000 in the next month. I know one of those people never had a chance to use it although I imagine they will at some point.

The script, site design, mod rewrite, and treatment of metas and titles have never been sold (despite a lot of offers)

If I feel someone is serious (this will depend on their ability to pay, reputation, etc), I may give them a chance to test drive the admin for 24 hours.

Its important to me the person who buys it is 100% sure before purchase. I support my sales 100% and part of that is answering any pre-sales questions I possibly can.

I typically ask a whole list of question before I buy a site so I don't mind at all as long as you give me a reasonable amount of time to reply.

Cheers

 

7 minutes was rather disappointing, bank is shut now

Real question: will the buyer get full rights to modify content on each article? What license have they been submitted under to your database?

 

I will provide screenshots to those that would like them...Just PM me

Please note these will be for serious buyers as I have seen these threads and everyone says "PM me" just to look at the pretty screenshots.

Please don't ask for these screenshots in this thread, just PM me (except Westhaven which will get them)

Cheers

 

cheeky brat

Here is the TOS submitters agreed to:

I have my own opinions about your question Johan but it will be up to the buyer to interpret the TOS themselves and figure out what they can do from there as they will be the owner (if that makes sense). The contributors have an agreement with Article Depot under the TOS, not with yfs1, so the new owner will have the responsibility to interpret it.

 

I have one bid via PM for $1200

Its below the set reserve so I obviously reserve the right not to sell
I will have the revenue screenshots out to people by tommorow

Cheers


High Bid via PM
$1200

 

Very nice site. Would I be right to assume that http://www.thearticleindex.com/ is a copycat of your site?

 

your site might be intrest of mine i guess you know that . SO i would like to see the stats.

Cheers

 

Looks like they just copied all my categories but the script is completely different. As I said to TOPS, there were 4 copies (with no resell rights) sold of the database when it hit 20,000 last year (The thread is somewhere in the B/S/T but none after that (Its now at nearly 40,000)

I'm sure people have scrapped it as they do to GoArticles, Ezine, etc but it won't be the same as a scrape is never the same as the original. Not to mention they can't scrap my traffic nor my features

The current high bid is $2500 through PM. I should be getting out the proof of revenue within an hour or two

Cheers

 

All revenue and Stats PMs have now gone out to those who requested them. One question has come up as far as my promotion of the site. As an added bonus, if the buyer likes I will leave my signature intact here at DP plus keep any Coop weight currently pointed at it for a period of 12 months.

This way there is no sudden drop in those two respects.

Also, there are banners on each page which get the highest CTR. Each time one of those expires (I wasn't actively seeking renewals), the AdSense has gone up. The system used for those banner is phpmyAdmin which is very easy to use and completely set up. Its up to the buyer if they want to sell that space or take the AdSense revenue.

As I stated in the original post, any long term deals for links will have to be honoured by the buyer and they will get a full schedule. I haven't sold a spot in quite a while though so many of the current ones are expired and will be removed so the new buyer can resell them and out of those left, I don't believe there are any over a few months in the handful that remain.

Also, one of the image ads on the left side has already expired while the other will be shortly. I have always gotten between $2-300 each per year ($500 total). I have only listed advertising here at DP so if you also list on Sitepoint, you will do better.

Highest Current Bid
$2500 through PM

 

Sad to see this site being sold. I use it as my primary article site. Hope the buyer keeps up the good work on it....

 

Keep using it! I will still be supporting the site whether I own it or not because I believe in it. Its value is in its submitters so I expect it will just continue to improve.

I am considering a slightly lower BIN right now based on the intentions of the buyer as I may let it go for slightly less knowing they will continue to grow it. I will of course post if I accept the offer

 

Why are you selling, yfs1?