It's estimated that, by 2008, there will be $63 billion dollars in obsolete merchandise in the US market. These goods aren't unusable; most still have a great deal of life left ? and that fact presents a tremendous opportunity for online sellers. Because, while these items are no longer the latest, flashiest models available, there's still a market for them ? one with a great deal of profit potential.
Business-to-business (B2B) auction web sites provide E-Biz owners access to large retailers? overstocks and excess inventory. Says Bill Angrick, CEO of bulk auction site http://Liquidation.com, ?Online sellers and E-Biz owners are always in need of new product sources. With B2B auctions, you're getting below-wholesale price points that let you compete in the marketplace.?
Performing Due Diligence
To use an auction site effectively, start by conducting market research. First, review the goods you're interested in and gauge the price at which you can resell them. Factor in the costs related to repackaging or refurbishing the inventory, shipping costs, and any buyer's premiums. Determine the profit margin you need to make; and from there, work backwards to figure out the maximum amount you can bid on a lot.
Signs of a Good Site
Don't stop at researching the products ? you also need to scrutinize the sites you're sourcing from. Ask lots of questions:
?Are they reputable? The same things you want in a traditional business relationship apply to an online marketplace: do they have a demonstrated relationship with their product sources? Can you find a physical location for the business that supports them or place a direct call to reach their customer service?
?Do they have efficient shipping? You should be able to obtain shipping quotes, so you can figure out the total cost of goods before placing your bid. Some sites can ship your products from multiple geographic locations, a service which helps reduce your freight costs.
?Do they have a secure settlement and transaction support service? Look for a site that can handle multiple forms of payment, and make sure they won't release your payment to the seller until after you've received and examined the goods.
?Do they provide in-depth product information and history? You want to know where your product is from, how many SKUs, the total quantity, the condition category (shelf pulls, returns, salvage, etc.), and any technical information ? the more details, the better.
?Do they offer proxy bidding? Some sites have a system in place that allows you to set your maximum bid, and then automatically bids for you up to that amount. Proxy bidding can save you time and help you stay disciplined in what you're willing to pay for your goods.
?Do they give you the ability to conduct complete product research? Can you search for items by keyword, category, quantity, condition, geographic location, etc? Do they have automated communications to keep you apprised of lots that meet your purchase criteria?
?Do they give you quick access to your buys? While you want enough time to perform due diligence, you also want to have speedy access to your goods so you can move them forward to resale.
As long as you're doing your homework and making informed buying decisions, the online B2B marketplace gives you a great tool for sourcing inventory. Says Angrick, ?If you've got a portal to all this product, at below-wholesale costs, that you can remarket online, then you have a powerful resource for growing your E-Biz and supplementing your regular product line-up.?
Secondary Market Precious Moments
I have this theory that there's an element of self-consolation people have at looking at their stats soar over a 24 hour period with these types of guaranteed hits programs. Sure you don't convert any new visitors, but you can tell all your buds that your site got in the vicinity of 50,000 hits yesterday!
Impressive, yet totally useless. If money is to be made, you must think outside the box--do something which few others are aware of.
The online adult entertainment market is far and away untouchable in terms of profit generation, but it too can at times get stagnant. With such an over saturation in the industry, it gets harder and harder to compete. Sites die down, the big names get bigger, and the small names have an even tougher time competing. It is no wonder, therefore, that adult websites have such a high turnover rate. Webmasters like to move on to new things, try out different niches and the ilk. In the process, they abandon thriving websites, or simply forget to renew the domain names for some of their existing sites. It happens daily, and more often than you would think. And the really scary thing is, it's a gargantuan market--one which has been vastly untapped. The market is that of secondary expired traffic -- possibly the most latent industry online for monetizing traffic.
Concept
The concept is simple: Find previously developed websites (read: domains) which have since expired due to webmaster neglect or abandonment, and make use of the link and search engine traffic that they are already receiving.
Expired domains are nothing new, and have been the rage on the net for the past few years.
The function of the expired domain market as it exists today for most individuals is to:
a) Find a suitable name for developing a new site
b) Try and grab up a hot sounding expired name in the face of cutthroat
Competition.
The fact remains that 99% of expired domain speculators are still fixated on the notion that they can snap up the next Business.com--assuming that the previous owner fails to renew it (here's hoping). Very rarely do you find an individual who ignores the undeveloped, great sounding, generic names and understands the value of those domains which have expired, but were previously developed. In the past, if an expired domain hunter had registered an expired domain with existing traffic, it was often by dumb luck. That traffic attached to the domain was just thought to be an added bonus to the domain purchased. Now individuals are beginning to realize that there are fairly simple means to locate and estimate with accuracy those domains which have existing link and search engine traffic attached to them, and those that do not. However, few still have access to the right tools and information necessary to identify the gold in all the expiring, undeveloped rubble.
Very few legitimate opportunities exist on the net which offer entrepreneurs start up costs of less than $10, minimal, passive involvement, and a growing recurring revenue stream--expired traffic just happens to be one of them.
Once you've found an expired domain with a sizeable stream of adult traffic, the best thing to do with it is to squeeze every last drop of profit out of it by utilizing any one of a number of appropriate sponsors. Alternatively, you could redevelop the expired and previously active domain, in the hopes that the pre-established traffic it is already receiving may be revitalised through fresh, new content. If you go the way of redirecting to sponsors, the best sponsors for expired adult traffic have been Clickcash and Nastydollars for general adult traffic, and the Mr.Skin program, using Flashcash for any celebrity orientated material. These programs are highly established, have been paying on time for several years, and will provide you with free content and tools to promote them. Below we outline a real-life example of how this entire process works.
An Example
What happens is that the expired domains traffic is redirected (either through domain-based re-direction or JavaScript re-direction) to one page. So say those 15 names, each were previously developed adult sites, but had since expired. They were each snagged for the mere cost of registration, about $9 a pop, and are then pointed to ?yourname.com?. You continue to receive new streams of real traffic both originating from the search engines and from other sites of expired domains you start linking to yours.
Say you receive in the vicinity of 2,700 hits a day (180 a site), which is the equivalent of approximately 1,000,000 hits a year.
Net cost: about $150 for the 15 domains (and hosting fees, which vary. However, you can usually set up a basic affiliate redirect for free.) If you then convert somewhere in the vicinity of 0.25% (1 in 400) of visitors?which is the usual Clickcash conversion rate.
Doing the math:
From the traffic of the 15 expired adult websites, in 1 year.
Estimated to be -- 0.25% conversion from * 1,000,000 visits/year *
$60/lead = $150,000.00 gross
Less $150 for the domains purchase = $149,850.00
Sound unbelievable? It isn't. Although there is one small caveat--the sites must continue to bring in the same amount of traffic they are each currently sending. Over the course of the year, the traffic quality and quantity will surely degrade, but since sites expire on a daily basis, we can always replace older expired traffic with newer leads and newer sites.
Conclusion
So how do you get a piece of this market--a market where a select few individuals in the know have quietly gone on to make untold millions?
Through information, and the right tools. Understanding this nascent game, which I estimate fewer than 2-3 thousand or so individuals are actively participating in, is the key to prospering in it.
Very few legitimate opportunities exist on the net which offer entrepreneurs start up costs of less than $10, minimal, passive involvement, and a growing recurring revenue stream--expired traffic just happens to be one of them. While everyone continues to march to the drum of optimizing and developing existing sites to eek out small gains, I'll continue to find other people's abandoned property, and use it without fail to make a quick buck. But hey, you do what suits you best.
Both Chris Malta & Robin Cowie & John Benson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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