ForumBulge Paid Posting Service - Great revenue + reputation

As most know, ForumBulge is one of the top forum posting services on the internet.
I started ForumBulge in October 2005 and it has been going strong since day one.

This business has allowed me to quit my job and earn a nice income that I can live off.
My reason for the sale is that I also have other online endeavours to pursue that I would like to allocate more time to.

Monthly revenue statistics are outlined below. Ive posted up one Paypal screenshot, I can show them all to you upon request from serious buyers.

ForumBulge has gained a huge amount of respect throughout the webmaster community, with positive comments from customers being posted at Digital Point Forum, Sitepoint Forum, AdminFusion and elsewhere, as well as many positive emails from customers.
All past emails can be forwarded to the new owner, you can use these as testimonials as I have on the website.

What you get with the sale:
forumbulge.com domain - reg at godaddy October 2005.
forumbulge website - Pr3, indexed and well ranked on Google, MSN and Yahoo for popular terms.
Forum posting and signature advertising business.
Client login/ Admin script
A steady customer base with regular customers and income.
Forumbulge forum where you post jobs for workers, currently has 4 great writers.
The knowledge that the hard work has been done in building up a fantastic name for the company - it is just up to you to continue it.

Promotion:
I have spent virtually nothing on advertising.
Most of my advertising is done at forums like this one, with signature links and posts outlining my service. Sometimes I offer free posts which gets new customers interested.

I am a paid member at the adminzone and adminfusion. I feel its important to integrate into the community and gain respect that way.
I also put a $10 ad up at Sitepoint which attracted quite a few customers.
Forumbulge customers originate from all the above mentioned forums as well as search engine traffic from google, yahoo and MSN.
I’ve always promoted ForumBulge as a high quality service (which it is) and the new owner will see that this approach of quality over quantity is vital in maintaining the edge over competitors.

The website:
www.forumbulge.com
PR3, well indexed and ranked on all search engines.
With some backlink building you could get a permanent #1 on Google (I was there for some time), I just haven't built many links.
It’s a simple website, but it works.

Stats (taken at start of June):
http://www.forumbulge.com/sale/stats.jpg

There is also a blog that I use to list important updates.

The job:
There are 2 sides to ForumBulge:
Forum Posting - this is the primary income earner. ForumBulge is well established and really doesnt need to advertise all that much to get a steady stream of customers. Rarely a day goes by that I don't receive an order.
You could very much increase this by taking on more promotion (posting in related forums etc)

Signature Advertising - this side of things is growing nicely. I actually really enjoy this part, as it takes a lot less time to post on other forums using someone’s signature as you aren’t living up to high quality post expectations.
Expansion: Due to ForumBulge’s great reputation, you could expand the business to include blog posting, article writing and whatever else takes your fancy.
Having a trusted name means you can use this as a springboard to really expand the services offered.

How the system works:
It’s simple.
Orders are emailed to you from the website form, you can then review the order and bill the customer via Paypal.
You could change this to have Paypal buttons on the website, I just prefer to review orders before billing for them.
Currently I track all orders through email and with an Excel spreadsheet. Once again, it's simple but it works.
I would prefer to automate the business a little more, it is something I have been looking in to for some time.

I do have a simple admin/client script set up that allows you to set up accounts in a database and let clients log in. You can post progress reports here etc.
It's not an absolutely fantastic system but it can be built upon if desired.

Revenue:
I'm not going to be shy in saying I do a lot of the work myself.
The reason why is simple - I can keep most of the profits this way.
I have been limiting the amount of orders I take, so you can factor that in as well.
I would guess that I keep around 90% of the revenue that ForumBulge receives. The rest goes to the writers for some jobs.
I do work at least 5 hours everyday making forum posts and organising new orders as well as keeping in contact with clients.

So if you want to profit as much as I have, be prepared to put in a few hours.
Alternatively, you could outsource most of the posts and keep half or more of the revenue yourself. ForumBulge packages are priced so that your writers would be happy with 25% of the package price, leaving you 75% and a nice profit.

With the new Paid Posting Tools service that Inb0x have developed, you are able to find writers immediately for any job. This means that ForumBulge could be a complete hands off business for you - i.e. all orders that come in are immediately outsourced off to writers using PPT at any cost you set, and you keep the profit.
All you'd have to do here is bill the orders and attend to emails.

The months with lower earnings occurred because I didn’t promote much around those times. Often I can do the rounds of forums and within 24 hours I'll have 10 or 15 new orders ready to bill for.
There have been times I have had to simply knock back some orders so I didn't get overloaded.
A figure of $3k+ per month is attainable if you have a solid team to work with. This is my revenue aim if I continue the business myself, and one which is definitely achievable with very little work and some smart outsourcing.
Please note I was away for most of the month in April, hence the low sales figure there.

Oct 05 - $324
Nov 05 - $1834
Dec 05 - $952
Jan 06 - $910
Feb 06 - $2311
Mar 06 - $1298
Apr 06 - $166 - (I was on holidays in April)
May 06 - $1433

A paypal screenshot:
http://www.forumbulge.com/sale/05_Feb06.jpg

I think its important to note that my earnings for ForumBulge seem to often be in direct proportion to the amount of promotion I do on various forums such as DP, Sitepoint, AdminFusion, AdminZone and several other webmaster forums.
Once i do a round of promotion/posting on these forums with my signature, the orders come in thick and fast.
I will give up my "forumbulge" username on all forums if the new owner wants to adopt it.

All the people working for me approached me themselves. I often get emails from people asking if they can work for ForumBulge.
I have a few writers on board at the moment, though they have been a little quiet of late.
The aforementioned PPT system would be ideal if you need assistance with posts (I will also be offering my assistance with the new owner).

I have two past customers who have planned to order around $2000 worth of posts and signature advertising from which I am awaiting a reply from.
Details of this will be forwarded to the new owner.

Keep in mind that not only are you buying a business, you are buying a reputation and a trustworthy name - the hard yards have been done as far as getting a great name for ForumBulge throughout the community and having an edge over competitors, and this is something I am proud of and want to pass on to someone who has a passion to continue it.

I would love to sell the business to someone who intends on keeping its good name and I would have faith in the new owner to do this.
However it's really up to you what you do with it. It has the potential to just keep on growing - perhaps I will regret selling it one day, who knows.

The buyer will receive ongoing help and support from me for as long as they need.
I would also make myself available to the buyer to act as a "side kick" or assistant to ForumBulge so as to ensure a little income for myself and guidance for the buyer.
I've put so much into this business that it does pain me to sell it, and I would still like to be involved to an extent if appropriate, and this will be discussed with the new owner.

All current jobs will be completed by myself during and after the take over with the new owner.

I think that covers it all. I'm happy to answer all questions here so ask away and name your price.

This is only posted for sale at Namepros and Digital Point for now, if I cant get a sale here I will post elsewhere (Sitepoint).

Is an auction?: Yes
BIN/Reserve: $6000

 

Just letting you know this is going for auction here
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=396340
Ending in 2 days.

 

Just like to say, very nice job on the business.

 

Thanks, now I just need someone to buy it