[WTS] 15 Month Old - Established *PR5* Web Directory - Earning $400+ Per Month!

Overview

URL: http://www.esubmitlinks.com
Uniques/Month: 3000
Monthly Revenue: 400
Established: 31st July 2006
Page Views/Month: 6000
PageRank: 5
Alexa Rank: 190,000 (Circa)

Introduction

I bought this directory in May 2007 to supplement my own income whilst to also take on a new project. At the time the revenue of this directory was fairly low and to be frank was a little disorganised and loosely structured. Having spent the best part of 6 months under my ownership I believe that I have developed this directory into a very healthy small business.

Regretfully, my other businesses now require a lot of my attention and I fear that I will not have the time to retain the upkeep this project deserves. I am therefore looking to pass it over to somebody who wants to get involved in this industry and either like me several months ago wants to supplement their own income or is just looking for a new project to get their teeth into.

The site took me several weeks to really get up together. This included some category modifications as well as a few structural changes. Unless the new owner wishes to, there isn’t any need for much infrastructure work to be carried out (in my opinion). Therefore, this project is ready to go and ready for the new owners full attention and input. It has an established revenue source so you can begin earning straight away!

I’m not going to write a whole page about what this business does or indeed what the directory industry is all about because I make the assumption that if you are browsing this sale you have a pretty good idea about what this business does. (If you don’t you are more than welcome to contact me and I’ll give you the lowdown. )

Directory Features

The directory itself is run on the very popular PHP Link Directory software. The sale includes the full paid licence but you must retain the PHP Link Directory anchor. The site runs the 3.1.0 paid version of the software and the newest 3.2.0 software is available to the new buyer. (I just haven’t got round to upgrading it).

The skin/theme of the directory is loosely based on the Stoneflash template by OsDesigner. I have modified the template in places, specifically in colour and layout but unless you change the skin dramatically you must keep the credit to the designer.

The logo identity is custom designed and was produced by Logo Design Team which cost $49 around two months ago. (I can provide the PSDs).

There is a directory statistics mod running which is a custom script that I got from the PHP Link Directory forums. It is located on the right hand side of each page and has stats such as; Link Categories, Active Links, Featured Links, Pending Links etc.

There is a web directory blog attached to this directory running on the latest version of Wordpress.

Web Directory Blog

Several months ago I decided to start a blog for this directory. I wanted to create some quality content whilst also opening another revenue stream for the directory itself by offering blog posts.

The blog is managed by the popular blogging software Wordpress. It features 35 quality blog posts ranging from 150-300 words a post. That equates to circa 5250-10500 words of quality content. I am not a professional writer but each post I have written on the blog post I believe to be of good quality and certainly value for money to the clients I have served. Please see the revenue details for the amounts brought in by this feature. Please consider viewing the blog to appreciate the quality of the content too.

Once again the theme is customized but built on a free wordpress template provided by the credited designer. (Once again, if you keep the template, you must keep the credit to the designer).

The blog is well indexed in all the major search engines and presents a very appetising opportunity for prospective buyers in the future. (Just remember to preserve the quality of the postings!)

PageRank & SeoMoz Page Strength

The directory itself has a strong PR5 homepage which has been present for the last two updates. There are also quite a few PR pages along with the rest of the directory pages being PR3/2. [Verify]

SeoMoz have issued the directory a 4.5 page strength rating. [Verify]

The web directory blog is yet to receive PageRank. This is simply because the blog was established after the last PR update.

(I welcome you to verify the PageRank along with the SeoMoz rating).

Traffic

Traffic averages circa 3k uniques a month.

* Traffic Screenshots are available upon request. *

Based on traffic from 1st May to 5th October referrals are as follows:

# 25% Direct Traffic
# 60% Referring Sites
# 15% Search Engines

Backlinks

Google = 413
Yahoo = 38,501
MSN = 241

Total Backlinks: 56,709 (Across all major Search Engines)

(According to Link Popularity Checker 3.0.3)

Indexed Pages

Google = 888
Yahoo = 2,608
MSN = Feature Not Available

Revenue

This business earns its revenue from the following streams:

• Paid Directory Listings
• Featured Directory Listings
• Sitewide Directory Listings
• Web Directory Blog Posts

I have a few ideas for further revenue streams for this directory which of course I will be more than happy to pass onto the winning buyer.

I’m fairly diligent with my accounting but for the purposes of keeping things simple here I will provide a revenue breakdown for the five months that have been accounted for so far. All figures are rounded up to the nearest ten!

May 2007 - $330
June 2007 - $540
July 2007 - $350
August 2007 - $280
September 2007 - $510

Total -- $2010 ($402 p/m)

As you can see the revenue is fairly consistent with only one month (August) being a little slow. Any of you who are involved in business will appreciate that the summer months are usually very slow for business. As you can see, things picked up very nicely in September! (October clearly isn't present as yet).

Typical Revenue Breakdown:

15 x $10 = $150 (Sitewide Links)
2 x $19.95 = $39.90 (Featured Links)
15 x $9.95 = $149.25 (Regular Links)
10 x $8 = $80 (Blog Posts)

Total -- $419.15

I have in fact started to raise the price of sitewide links so the new owner could easily charge $15 per link and make an extra $75 p/m there! As with all web directories, the more traffic and increased promotion you do the more regular and featured links you will sell. You can pick up a handful of blog posts each week by advertising on webmaster forums. I have done this on two successful outings and raised the best part of $200 doing so. (See my iTrader).

Revenue Screenshots

Paypal

Full revenue screenshot package is available upon request. (It is several pages long). PM Me.

Costs

Direct costs include hosting, sales transaction costs and marketing costs. Hosting price is at your discretion. This site will run fine on any decent shared hosting although I have been running it on my own server. The majority (in fact, all) of the transactions have gone through Paypal so depending on which fee category you are on you will get charged a sales cost.

Marketing is once again at your discretion. Initially I spent a few hundred dollars a month to kick start things and in the last few months I haven’t really spent much at all. See the marketing section of this brief for further details.
The PHP Link Directory licence is paid for already, valued at $25.

Typical costs per month are around $20-40. You then have marketing costs on top of that which I stress is up to you on how much you spend. (See Below).

Marketing

As I have already stressed the marketing costs are at your discretion. A lot of directories spend a mint on advertising their directory, you can do the same but don’t expect to see results based on how much you spend. It is important that you spend wisely and keep track of effective marketing opportunities.

Here is a brief sample list of some of the prominent links:
http://www.aplusdirectory.org/computers_and_internet/web_directories/paid_directories/
http://www.elegantdirectory.com/blog/category/general-web-directories/
http://www.rhdir.com/computers_and_internet/web_directories/
http://www.isulongseophil.com/2007/07/13/esubmit-links-directory/
http://dirwizard.com/Directories/Paid/
http://www.linkchannels.com/Internet/Web_Directories_/

Please note; The above are some of the links that I have paid for in my time as owner. The above list doesn’t include what the previous owner did or indeed reflect the total number of backlinks the directory has. As already stated the site has over 50,000 backlinks. (I can provide the full list of paid links to the new owner).

I have a few sitewide link monthly subscriptions active at present. This includes:
PR6
http://www.cascandra.com

PR5
http://www.linkrain.com/
http://www.pakdir.net/
http://techtoplist.com/
http://www.iwebtool.com/search_engine_position
http://techtoplist.com/blog/
http://www.cnmpx.com/blog/
http://www.dirkut.com/

These are based on a month to month rolling basis and the new owner has the option to cancel them as and when they wish to. If you intend to keep the sites traffic and revenue rolling then I would advise maintaining at least several of these links.

Domain & Hosting

Domain is located at NameCheap.com and I believe is a free push to account holders.

Expiry of the domain is : 31/07/2008 so you effectively have 9 months or so remaining until renewal. WhoisGuard is also included in this 9 month period.

Hosting is currently setup on my server but you must make your own arrangements to host the site elsewhere within 2 weeks of the sale completion. I will not be available to transfer the site to a new server. I can advise on how to do it but you must make your own arrangements to physically move the site.

Price & Payment

Price

Whilst I have a price in mind that I would like this site to go for I will not be setting an official BIN price (as yet!). I will entertain offers during the initial period of the sale but I make no guarantees of immediately accepting them.

The usual bidding format would be appreciated at a starting bid of $1,500

See terms below for further information on this.

Payment

• Escrow (Transaction fees can be split 50/50).
• Paypal (Pre-Approved Clientele only!).
• Bank Wire (UK Only).

Deposit is required within 48 hours of the auction/sale being agreed unless you intend on paying via Escrow.

Terms

Existing Links

All existing links within the directory MUST remain indefinitely. This includes; Regular, Featured & Blog Post links.

The sitewide links (located on the right hand side of the directory) are mostly all on monthly subs. There are two pre-paid sitewide links that cannot be removed until they expire (06/12/2007 and 07/03/2008) Note; UK format dates!

Designer Accreditation

If you intend on using the directory and blog in its current format (design wise) then the appropriate accreditation to the designers MUST remain.

Content Copyright

The content copyright ownership will be transferred to the new owner of the directory upon completion of the sale. You therefore (as the buyer) gain ownership of the unique content. The content may NOT be moved, adjusted or removed from the blog.

My Agreement to you

I will not be setting up another web directory.
I will also not be reselling any of the features of this website. (Design, Content or Information).
I will be on hand for a two week period after the sale is completed to, where possible, help you and assist you with getting the most out of your purchase.

You get; Domain, Full Site, Design, Graphics, Images, Avatar etc.

References

DP members will have a fairly good idea of who I am. I have a reputable iTrader feedback rating as well as a four figure eBay feedback rating. I can also provide a contact number to the winning bidder for peace of mind.

Starting Bid = $1,500
Reserve = Undisclosed
BIN = Undisclosed (PM your offers).
Auction Ends = Not Yet Set (See Below)​

This auction will be going on SitePoint and be advertised elsewhere. I will confirm when the auction ends once it is listed on SitePoint. I reserve the right not to sell this website for any reason. I also reserve the right to decline a buyer and/or close this auction at any point.

If I have missed something out or you have any questions for me, please PM me.

Thank you for your interest and Happy Bidding!

 

How much are you currently paying for links to your directory per month?

What is the monthly revenue from site wide links?

 

Thank you for your interest.

Based on the sitewide links I have on other sites I pay around $60-80 a month. (This varies however as you attempt to find more effective solutions).

Monthly revenue received from the sitewide links is stated in the first post. It averages out at about $170 per month, based on the revenue received for that stream over the five month period I have had ownership.

Thanks!

 

do you have the sitepoint auction link?

 

Thanks for your comments Don, appreciated.

I'll more than likely be putting the site up on Sitepoint in the next 48 hours. You are welcome to make a bid/offer in the interim.

Thanks!

 

ok, I will start the auction with $1500

 

Thanks for your bid.

I should have mentioned this earlier but can we please do minimum $100 bid increments.

I would imagine (unless I receive an attractive bin offer before then) the highest bidder here at DP will be what I will start the auction at over on SitePoint. Therefore once the auction goes live on sitepoint the leading bidder here will be the current leader over there too. Until obviously they get outbid over on sitepoint.

Thanks!

 

$1600..........

 

2000$ bid here

 

Thanks for the bids so far chaps.

I've put the site up on Sitepoint now and Tommy you are the highest bidder at present. Auction starts at $2,100 to take into consideration Tommy's bid (which btw is below my reserve for the site). Please make all further bids over at Sitepoint.





I'll still entertain BIN offers and answer any questions you may have about the directory here but please bid over at Sitepoint.

Auction closes next Monday (15th Oct)

Thanks!

 

Thank you to those interested in this sale, the website has now been sold.

Mods, Please close thread.

 

Congrats to buyer and seller!