Website Investing from Investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Avi talks about expired domains with Adam Smith of Niche Website Builders. They cover how to acquire expired domains, how to efficiently build websites with them, and why to use expired domains. They also discuss the different steps and principles used by Niche Website Builders to build these websites and make them successful. EPISODE SPONSOR🔥 Smash Digital - an SEO growth agency with actual skin in the game, ranking their own portfolio of profitable businesses, and offering the exact same services to clients. Check. Them. Out.📝 Show Summary & InsightsExpired Domain “Sniff Test”They use several tools for a five-minute sniff test to gauge domains. One of these is SpamZilla, which finds many sources to buy expired domains. It also filters them using different metrics such as UR, DR, trust flow, organic traffic, and many more. The metrics used depend on the purpose of the domain. Looking at the metrics, you need to determine whether the domain looks good, and is a good fit for its purpose. SemRush is a valuable site for doing quick sniff tests using their categorization of backlinks.Adam mentions that once the sniff test is passed, you can use the Wayback Machine for the domain. You can see multiple snapshots of each year to determine whether a site or domain is really good. There are cases when outbound links to unwanted sites exist. Adam says that you shouldn’t worry about whether or not a website is in the index or if it’s been 301 redirected to another site. What matters is that the link profile is checked and the links are still alive. It's usually still better than having a fresh domain.First StepsThe first thing to do - sometimes even before buying a domain - is to think about the keyword plan or the content plan for the domain. Some niches are more competitive than others so you want to consider if the domain is powerful enough to compete in that specific niche. The keyword research done by Adam and his team is proprietary. However, he mentions that it involves looking at competitors in the same space or niche, figuring out who the weaker competitors are, and analyzing how the outliers with good organic traffic are doing this. Content plans are built around uncovering and reverse engineering the content from outliers who are performing really well in their niche. There are things you can do to increase the chance of success for your domain. In terms of site structure, you want to ensure that your homepage passes as much link juice through to the rest of the site as possible.Starting out, try to cover only a small sub-niche, keeping the click depth of a website really low, i.e., everything only two clicks away from the homepage. You can check the best pages-by-links report using Ahrefs. You want to keep these links for two reasons. One is that they’re good links and you want to keep them active. Two is, there’s a chance that these links might 401 if you leave them.Handling LinksThere are two options for tidying up the links. The first option is to take the existing content and keep it on the website. This is the riskiest, but may be mitigated by hiding these pieces of content from the website navigation so you can’t get to them. The second option is rewriting the content in your own words or repurposing the content.As a rule of thumb, Adam says that any old page with more than five links pointing to it should be recreated, and anything with less than two links is redirected back to the homepage.One thing that differentiates an expired domain is how all the old redirects are handled. Apart from this, the steps are the same as for setting up a new site.Adam’s ApproachAdam has been building out sites on expired domains for his own personal portfolio, but still builds domains or sites on fresh domains for clients.Adam compares his website building approach to a horse race; he doubles down on the ones that are doing the best. A typical worst case scenario seen with expired domains is that they act like fresh domains. This means that they have a sandbox period and revenue coming in after three or four months of the site going live. On the other hand, there are outliers and sites that grow insanely fast from the start.If everything goes well, traffic typically shows within the first six weeks so Adam suggests waiting a month or two to see traffic. You can check Ahrefs and SemRush to see the increase in the number of keywords indexed which points at the right direction.There’s no commonality between sites that perform like rocket ships from the get-go, versus the sites that sit and don’t take off so well.A phenomenon of expired domains is that these sites may have metrics that look good, have due diligence and proper checks performed, but there is still no way to tell how they will do.Adam recommends his company's services as they are flexible and tailored to the level of experience of the client building the site. The client may be as involved or as hands-off as they like.Guest InfoWebsite: Nichewebsite.buildersNiche Website Builders Facebook GroupWhat did you think?Did you enjoy this episode or do you have a question?Please leave a comment to let us know.Cheers,Juliet Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Avi speaks with Colin Ma who writes our Digital Asset Deals inside the community. Colin has grown a portfolio of sites and also works with us to find and vet our weekly website deals. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Doug Cunnington from Niche Site Project. Doug features all over the web as an expert on niche affiliate sites. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Doron Wolffberg from Cliverse Media - a cutting edge digital media company that creates and grows large and passionate audiences for niche industries. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 45 minutes of the conversation; Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Morten from Passive Income Geek. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 45 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed. The second part Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Jaryd Krause from. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 40 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed. The second part typically elicits more insights as we get deeper into the conversation. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Zach Zorn from Money Nomad about his new marketplace and partnership with Empire Flippers. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Mark Mars on investing content into aged domains. Mark is the co-founder of Niche Website Builders with Adam Smith (who was on the first podcast) and together they run the facebook groups on Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard again speaks with Ruaan Nel (previous episode) on how he has grown from a four figure a month portfolio to well into five figures. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 40 minutes of the conversation; Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks Benjamin Strušnik from GoldenWeb about the upside that technical SEO can bring. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 40 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Matt Raad from eBusiness Institute which teaches website investing through their Digital Profits Program. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first hour of the conversation; paying subscribers also get Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Josh Mitchell on acquiring sites to hold for the long-run, and how to acquire sites at closer to 2x earnings. Josh used to be a professional football (soccer) player and is another one in this industry that loves poker. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Michael Bereslavsky from Domain Magnate (Richard was on the most recent episode of his podcast) about the performance of their first fund and news on the second one. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first ~40 minutes of the conversation; Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Mark Whitman from Content Ellect, Task It & Golden Web on how he is partnering up with Benjamin Strusnik (podcast episode coming out soon) to build a batch of sites on aged domains.In this part 1, free subscribers get the first ~40 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed. As is typical, part 2 elicits more insights as we get deeper into the conversation.EPISODE SPONSORS🔥 Smash Digital - an SEO growth agency with actual skin in the game, ranking their own portfolio of profitable businesses, and offering the exact same services to clients. Check. Them. Out.🔥 Niche Website Builders - a hands-off approach to outsourcing your content. Packages include keyword research & high-converting review templates. Get 10% off your first order.Part 1 Show NotesMark’s BusinessesContent ServicesMark has been hard at work with growing his content services business Contentellect. Here, customers can buy content and manage their accounts. Currently, monthly blog articles are very popular, especially for their main target audience: SaaS companies. The most popular service, however, is their full outsourced blog management, where they build content calendars, do keyword research, and write and publish content for their customers. FBA BusinessHe also has a neck-warmer/bandana product that he sells at around 200 units a day. Affiliate Content Site PortfolioCurrently, Mark has 6 affiliate sites in his portfolio. Of these 6 sites, 2 were acquired, while the rest are being built up organically over time. However, he isn’t looking to increase this, considering the Amazon update, and a reduction of affiliate commissions with one of their partners. Joint VentureMark also recently formed a joint venture with a business partner, Benjamin. Here, the partner would be building affiliate sites, while Mark would be funding the business. They are currently looking to build up 5 sites out of expired domains they purchased. Mark’s content services agency is also involved here, with a goal of initially having 75,000 words per site, to see which site responds and performs best.Buying More?Acquiring new affiliate sites or content related sites aren’t something that Mark is keen on doing in the future, considering the risks and amount of money involved. Though he does admit that there is proper risk and reward involved, he has increasingly become jaded by the risks. SEO Auditing and ImplementationMark’s joint venture, GoldenWeb, performs SEO auditing. A lot of services do SEO audits, but very few will actually implement the requirements for you. There is thus a big opportunity for a product site service that performs these, and Mark’s joint venture is one of them. Their target market right now are big e-commerce websites, and prices for these clients start at around $1,000 with an additional fee for implementation, depending on the problems. During the audit, they actually tell their clients how to make the changes if they want to do it themselves, but some can be quite technical, so leaving it to them could be a better and safer option.Seeing PotentialThe SEO auditing and implementation services started out when Mark’s partner performed these services on one of Mark’s sites. Seeing the potential, they decided to offer their services to the public.More Into Mark’s Joint VentureBuying, Growing, and SellingMark is looking to build out the 5 sites his joint venture owns, and to sell them in the future ideally for 6 figures each, but not less than 4 figures. Currently, the 1st site has around 75,000 words of content and around 50 articles. He terms this site as his “MVP” site with a value of around $5,000. He is not looking to invest any more in this site, apart from creating links. Traffic LevelsTraffic numbers determine whether Mark would invest more into a site, but this does not necessarily mean traffic volume. Rather, it would be the types of traffic that the site gets. They would then be able to determine ranking, and if a site would works or not. Using Expired Domains and Technical SEOsMark has no prior experience with building sites out of expired domains; however, his business partner Benjamin does. Benjamin is more focused on the technical SEO aspects to improve the sites, in contrast to Mark who usually looks at it from a content point-of-view. Thus, Benjamin would be structuring and siloing the site correctly, and making sure that the site is lean and flows smoothly. This has been eye-opening for Mark, who hasn’t built sites out this way before, considering his content and aesthetics perspective.Looking to the FutureIf this business goes well, Mark would definitely invest more in it, as long as Benjamin wants to keep going. However, Mark is not looking to build more affiliate sites moving forward, considering the nature of the work and the underlying value of the asset.Premium Content OptionsMark doesn’t think that they will get into producing super high end and expert content, but states that his content is already very good, starting at 10 cents/word. With a wide writing network, they are able to produce varied content based on good research. They also provide various other services like building content calendars and performing keyword research.However, if you do want to get premium, high-level content, you will definitely have to shell out money to get good writers, especially for very technical niche websites. Form of ContentThese days, people are quite lazy to read content. Short sentences with lots of paragraphs and multimedia would definitely attract more readers, compared to densely-written and academic-sounding articles which no one would probably read. However, at the end of the day, it still depends on the niche of the website.Here is the example from The Wirecutter of postgraduate level content!Episode 14 Part 2In part 2 of this conversation we discuss:In-house content writers vs outsourcedObjectively valuing contentContent to bounce vs content for an audienceHow to actually add value with your siteBarriers to entry with websites / becoming media companiesHow to best invest capital based on risk tolerancePart 2 is for paying subscribers, you can access by hitting the button below.Enjoyed this episode or have any questions? You can leave a comment at the bottom of the web version of this post.CheersRichard Patey (Host) & Avi Silverberg (Producer) Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with top domain investor Josh Reason about flipping domains. Josh has a great daily domain investing podcast and is a popular guy so there were a few skype message notification sounds on this one! Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Ace Chapman on why he views funds as the best structure for buying assets that generate an income, such as websites. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first ~30 minutes of the conversation; Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Emre Goktas from Rev Panda on how he was able to build and sell a content site for €105K within 6 months.In this part 1, free subscribers get the first ~30 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed. As is typical, part 2 elicits more insights as we get deeper into the conversation.EPISODE SPONSORS🔥 Smash Digital - an SEO growth agency with actual skin in the game, ranking their own portfolio of profitable businesses, and offering the exact same services to clients. Check. Them. Out.🔥 Niche Website Builders - a hands-off approach to outsourcing your content. Packages include keyword research & high-converting review templates. Get 10% off your first order.Part 1 show notesRanking Your Website Faster in 6 MonthsImportance of The Content NichePicking a content niche that matches the industry you are targeting is a major way to produce new keywords you can use to rank your website on Google.  When your site attracts qualified leads, you’re subsequently able to generate more advertising dollars.  Advertisers like to invest their money into sites that are able to provide isolated and engaged audiences.Not only do niche audiences allow you to seek out contextual PPC advertisements, but you’ll also get opportunities for referring leads to other websites.Cooperating With Other WebsitesPartnering with different companies that match your niche is a way to increase search traffic and revenue. One idea is to write content on their new products that are about to come to the market (before the launch).  Link Building StrategyCooperate with other websites to put a ‘testimonial block’ that says you made a review about the product that they are selling.Advantages of Multi-Language Content SitesThere are several advantages to having your site available in multiple languages: Customer-CentricMulti-language content can be marketable around the world. Companies with multi-language websites prove to be customer-centric, resulting in improving the overall brand reputations and credibility among target audiences.OutsourceBusinesses today look for people who are bilingual or multilingual due to the diversity in today’s population. Some companies are globally operated and hiring a person who knows many languages can give them an edge in marketing globally.Importance of Domain NameIt is important that your website domain will be unique in a way that it has a single meaning and recognizable even in different languages, It should align with the overall goal of your website.The domain name helps in building the brand also. If you have a domain name the same as your business name, it reinforces your brand, making it very easy for your customers to remember your brand and return to you easily through your website.  Characteristics of a Website That SellsThe ability to sell advertisements and sponsorship and the power of having multiple languages to be discovered by other countries.Equally important, the site must work quickly, correctly, and as expected. Build to web standards, proofread rigorously, and tested regularly for problems with speed or functionality. Every page should always be fast and functional.Episode 11 Part 2In part 2 of this conversation we discuss:The importance of building a team for growthHiring people in the Baltic statesCould mobile apps be better than email lists? Is leveraging google search traffic into your own app the ultimate strategy?Part 2 is for paying subscribers, you can access by hitting the button below.Enjoyed this episode or have any questions? You can leave a comment at the bottom of the web version of this post.CheersRichard Patey (Host) & Avi Silverberg (Producer) Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast, Richard speaks with Mushfiq Sarker from Inventige on his success brokering and flipping websites. Mushfiq was very active in the early days of the Flipping Websites facebook group as well as on the Just Start Reddit forum and now writes case studies on his Website Flipping publication.This was a longer conversation (almost 2 hours), actionable from start to finish. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 50 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed. As is typical, part 2 elicits more insights as we get deeper into the conversation.EPISODE SPONSORS🔥 Niche Website Builders - a hands-off approach to outsourcing your content. Packages include keyword research & high-converting review templates. Get 10% off your first order.🔥 Ezoic - an AI-driven platform built for publishers to optimize ad revenue and maximize site speed. You can start a free trial of Ezoic today.Part 1 Show NotesMushfiq’s BackgroundBeginnings and First Website FlipMushfiq started building a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) website on Blogspot in 2008 while in college. 2 years later, an Australian company offered to buy his website, making it his first flip. He then decided to make a Flippa account to buy websites, which he would work on and sell. Currently, Mushfiq has over 100 transactions on Flippa, where he buys and sells websites himself or for others.Losing his Flippa Account and Involvement in a LawsuitIn 2015, Mushfiq bought a website and sold it on Flippa. Later on, the buyer was sued for using an image on the website without permission. This image was uploaded by the first owner of the website. The buyer then sued Mushfiq and reported him to Flippa, leading to Mushfiq Flippa account getting banned for a year. Eventually, a settlement was reached and Mushfiq got his account back, but he also lost his Super Seller status in the process.He now makes sure that the photos on his websites aren’t copyrighted images, and even got liability insurance as a precaution.Protecting Yourself Against LiabilitiesHolding and developing a domain can come with a lot of liabilities, especially in the US. Website visitors can file lawsuits anytime, so it’s best for website owners and creators to be safe. Mushfiq has a lawyer assess his websites, and has him put up privacy policy disclaimers. This is a good way of protecting yourself against lawsuits and ridding yourself of liability when people visit your website. Website owners should also watch out for other types of lawsuits too. The Flipping IndustryFinding Success on FlippaAll of Mushfiq’s successful sites have come from Flippa. Though he has bought websites on a website flipper Facebook group, these were mostly short-term flips. Flippa has numerous websites created by hobbyists who have put up a ton of content for years, and these are what Mushfiq tends to buy. Multiples and Changes in the IndustryIn the past, if Mushfiq would buy a simple domain, he would buy it in 10x or 15x multiples. However, in recent years, people have learned that the multiples are actually in the 25x to 35x range, so it’s become very difficult to purchase them at lower multiples. The general industry has become smarter, and people are now wary to sell lower.As a result, being a broker isn’t as profitable as it was before, with direct deals and marketplaces becoming more common. Mushfiq states:I don’t think there’s a future for a broker in this industry, I think Investors Club is doing the right thing, just being a connector, and that’s where I’m going to as well. Right now, brokers profit off of high-end websites in the 7-figure range, and this will continue for the foreseeable future. However, anything lower than 7 figures could be under attack by new automated platforms which offer far lower fees. Flip or Keep?Mushfiq usually keeps websites for as long as he can, and would flip only if he needs the money or if he has grown the site to its peak. Holding multiple websites at once requires time and effort to grow. Otherwise, if you let them sit for too long, they would dip. Mushfiq used to hold 18 websites, but recommends holding only 1 or 2 which you can focus on and have it grow to its peak. You then have the choice of either hiring people to grow it even further, or selling it.New Google Core UpdatesGetting More HarshBoth of Mushfiq’s websites got hit by the updates, and his competitors have got it worse. He gave up on solely focusing on Google and instead tried to diversify. Currently, he uses paid campaigns to drive traffic, Pinterest, and any other means to drive traffic other than Google. Organic traffic is always going to be the most dominant traffic. How Mushfiq Avoids Risk at The OutsetMushfiq tends to buy sites that are undermonitized and underperforming, but have a lot of traffic. He would then be able to 10x the revenue within a month. So even if Google traffic goes down by 50%, he would still be able to make a significant ROI due to the usual traffic that the site has. Migrating Newly Acquired SitesMushfiq usually migrates the website to his technical platform when he buys them. He also switches themes, cleans up, and adds new plugins, and also moves it to his private virtual server to increase page speed significantly. This helps increase traffic. He doesn’t tend to change the specifics and navigation of the website for the first 2 months as he’s increasing the revenue of the site. After 1 or 2 months, he then does changes on-page to improve user experience. By doing these, he is able to increase traffic and revenue significantly. But Why Still Hold On to Sites?Mushfiq prefers not to sell his websites quickly because of two issues: the first is that most people want a 6-month average of earnings, and the second is that US tax rates are bad for doing short-term flips. The tax rate will drop from around 25% to 15% after 12 months, because they would be considered as assets and capital gains by then. Episode 10 Part 2In part 2 of this conversation we discuss:How to optimize your website by increasing returnsTax on profit vs capital gains & LLC vs. S CorpsHaving a dedicated website managerSelling a majority position in a websiteSelling websites to private equity funds and pricing out buyersPart 2 is for paying subscribers, you can access by hitting the button below.Enjoyed this episode or have any questions? You can leave a comment at the bottom of the web version of this post.CheersRichard Patey (Host) & Avi Silverberg (Producer) Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast I speak with Greg Elfrink, the Director of Marketing at Empire Flippers, on content site trends in 2020. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

In this episode of the Website Investing podcast I speak with top website investor Steve Brown on how he is able to generate consistent success by building out on aged domains. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 40 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed which runs at an additional hour. As is typical, part 2 elicits more insights as we get further into the conversation.In this week’s Monday newsletter I asked for help with the publication, in particular, a Podcast Producer. I’d like to thank Brady Cargle for reaching out offering to help edit and produce this week’s episode until I find someone (which I now have). Brady is the voice you hear introducing and summarizing in this week’s episode. Steve’s audio is a little buzzy at the beginning but Brady got it to settle down. He also did the excellent show notes below.EPISODE SPONSORS🔥 Premium Domain Names - SEO domains to kickstart a UK-focussed site (i.e. targeting Amazon in the UK) so you don’t have to wait years to rank and bank.🔥 Ezoic - an AI-driven platform built for publishers to optimize ad revenue and maximize site speed. You can start a free trial of Ezoic today.Part 1 Show NotesSteve’s AssetsSteve’s own sites have weathered the update storms (one was listed in a Deals email back in May). His May income was just down 3% from April, but his April income was 2x of his March income. Most of Steve’s traffic comes from Google and most of his income comes from Amazon Associates, but he does have some affiliate diversification and is interested in diversifying more.One problem with affiliate program diversification is the increased time management required. One potential tool to manage your affiliate programs could be Affluent.io shown below:Traffic Diversification In AcquisitionsIt’s easy to know how much traffic a website is getting. But why is the website getting it? How can we track the movements of individual keywords in mass to know how the website is moving in the SERPs?There’s no good way to do this. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush allow us to see historic traffic, but these tools can be inaccurate. Future sellers should look at tracking all of their rankings in something like Ahrefs’s Rank Tracker (or Steve’s favorite: Keyword.com, previously called SerpBook).Rankings history will be helpful to verify that a website’s traffic is diversified and isn’t wrapped up in just a handful of pages.Premium Subscription Models As Income GeneratorsThe premium subscription model is exciting right now. Content seems to be getting to a place where people are willing to pay for it...As long as it provides them value or saves them time.There are a couple of ways to go about a content business: You can be an expert in your niche and deliver high-value, time-saving content or you can curate news within a certain niche. Both models work and seem to be on the uptrend.It’s an attractive model for any business, including an authority site because you have control. No one can take your subscriptions away. Amazon can’t change your rate, Google can’t remove you from the featured snippet.The downside to the model is that it does require a bit of legwork. A premium publication (such as Growthlist by Chris Osborne) will take time to build.Episode 8 Part 2In part 2 of this conversation we discuss:The strengths and weaknesses of having a larger portfolioSteve’s approach and thoughts on 301 redirects / combining sitesHow content needs to be relevant to the link profile it’s published onSteve’s most important factor for conversionsWhether Steve would roll up and sell his entire portfolioPart 2 is for paying subscribers, you can access by hitting the button below.Enjoyed this episode or have any questions? You can leave a comment at the bottom of the web version of this post. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now | On this episode of the Website Investing Podcast, I speak with Tyler Bishop the CMO of Ezoic and we break down the jargon-heavy world of ad monetization. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first ~30 minutes of the conversation; paying subscribers also get part 2 in their RSS feed Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now (37 min) | On this episode, I speak with Matt Diggity from: Diggity Marketing The Search Initiative Leadspring Authority Builders Chiang Mai SEO Conference Affiliate SEO Mastermind Facebook Group Affiliate Lab Course As you will hear, Matt is a boss-level SEO and website flipper. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now (53 min) | On this episode, I speak with Ron Stefanski from onehourprofessor.com. Ron has kept income reports since 2014 where he documents the revenue from his portfolio of now 9 sites. In this part 1, free subscribers get the first 50 minutes; paying subscribers also get Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now (38 min) | On this episode, I speak with Chris Warburton, Head of Marketing & Growth at Flippa, a peer-to-peer marketplace for digital assets, about their future product development and direction. I’ve been tracking the number of new content site listings across the market place for the Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now (32 min) | Below is part 1 of an interview with my friend Ruaan Nel on his Aged Site, Auction Domain and Expired Domain Strategy. It’s all action and no fluff. Ruaan is one of the most talented website investors I know. He buys existing sites, auction domains and expired domains, invests aggressively into new content, does some light link building (as the domains already have good existing authority) and looks to exit within 12-18 months. Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Listen now (38 min) | Episode 2 of the Website Investing Podcast is with Ewen Finser from Owl Mountain, which is aiming to become the Berkshire Hathaway of Digital Assets. Owl Mountain has an acquisitions side, proprietary deal flow service for buyers (Falcon River with John Hart) and now an incubation / build side. I previously spoke to Ewen on the Get on the email list at website.investing.io

This is part 2 of episode 2 of the Website Investing Podcast for paying subscribers. (Part 1 here).Let’s continue the conversation with Ewen Finser from Owl Mountain.How the capital is investedThe $15K invested into content gets Ewen to around 100-120 pages of content, which gets to 10K sessions a month. Then the additional $20K gets put into the site in a similar fashion ending up with around 300 pages.Pillar articles are typically around 3K words to be the comprehensive resource on the topic, then after that ~ 2K words per article. Ewen uses Marketmuse for content length and content quality score (prefers to SurferSEO which I use). GoalsThe aim for these sites is:1) After year 2, they are self-funding and do not require any further investment, i.e. break even based on annual cashflow.2) After year 3, the cashflow generated will also have paid off the $35K investment3) The asset value should break even at year 1.5 to 2. This is the exciting part for Ewen, i.e. when do they cross the value threshold of sites worth more than the dollar invested.4) Between years 2-3, the asset value should be double the $250K invested, i.e. at $500K.5) Between years 3-4, the 5 sites will have returned over $50K in income each which, with the asset value, totals $750K for a 3x return on invested capital (ROIC)Deploying the mothershipEwen is planting flags in niches he has had experience in, where he will end up with a main authority site which will give him the ability to find green shoots in the sub niches that he can launch as micro-targeted separate sites. He talks of creating five or six targeted lucrative sites that they have validated with the big mothership site, like owning multiple gas stations in a neighbourhood. With the recent change with google featured snippets, where you can’t rank top and have the snippet at the same time, having multiple sites in a niche makes even more sense.When to exitHe is probably going to exit 20-30% of their portfolio at year 3 and beyond, selectively taking risk of the table.Internal operationsHis internal operators are growth managers and editors who are paid a fixed rate. With external operators, rather than get into complicated operator models where the investor may feel the operator is charging too much, or are only being incentivised on the upside (i.e. if the site goes down they have no incentive to stick around), Ewen has a structure where the operator gets 50%, but only after certain hurdles are met. Until 1x their capital is returned, there is a 90% preference to the investors with distributions. Then you unlock a different cap table, and once 2.5x investor capital is returned, 50-50 is in effect. This helps protects the downside. You can also do distributions plus asset value in terms of total capital returned.Redistributing capitalBecause Owl Mountain manage operations when building in-house, they can use portfolio theory to dynamically redeploy capital into sites that are performing far better, to achieve even higher ROIs. This is not possible with operating companies who are managing sites and capital on behalf of investors, i.e. they can’t focus on winners, in fact they are likely focussing more energy on losers so that they do not lose management of the asset.Owl Mountain is going to develop a stable of operators who have different specialities who are building out their funds and incubators in their relevant fields, i.e. FBA who can be added onto content affiliate sites.When things go wellOne of Ewen’s biggest successes in a “right time right place for the niche” was a site started in 2012 where he only published content and did zero back linking; five years later in 2017 it had 450 articles, was doing $300K in annual profit. He exited for 3.5x multiple in early 2018 for a 7 figure outcome. He put in less than $1K into the site as wrote the content himself ( like I did with my software review site which had a $100K exit). If you were to cost up the content (assuming 2000 words per page for 900K words at 5c per word) for $45K you get to a 20x plus return.Ewen considers building as a 5-10 year play, snowballing capital - it’s not a yield play or a flip play.Monetization / RPMEwen used to have a portfolio weighted 80% to amazon associates, in terms of monetisation, and now he’s flipped that to around 20-25% with the vast majority being direct affiliate relationships who will give you more metrics from their affiliate dashboards (such as eCPM), and give you the potential to negotiate better rates which builds a better moat.Ewen has an approximation of $RPM for each site before he launches. The baseline RPM he uses is Mediavine which is anywhere from $15-$50 per 1000 visitors (just advertising) then if you add in affiliate you can double that. Combined, we think $50 RPM is a good floor assumption but aiming for $100 [this was recorded before the Amazon commission reduction].Niche researchIf a niche only has a few head terms, each of which are less than a thousand volume per month, Ewen would be hesitant to enter that space.Sites for finding niches that are trending up he mentions are meetglimpse.com and explodingtopics.comYou need your own P&LWe end with a discussion around how the current P&L for a potential acquisition is irrelevant and how you need to forecast out your own P&L and make an offer based on that.Contact EwenAs Ewen isn’t a self-proclaimed guru he does actually have time to speak with investors and can be reached at ewen@owlmountain.co or on Linkedin. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit investing.substack.com

Listen now (23 min) | Hey, welcome to the first Website Investing Podcast, coming at you every Friday. Episode 1 is with Adam Smith from Niche Website Builders, the Niche Website Flippers facebook group and now the expiring domain newsletter Domain Geeks. Adam is deemed one of the Get on the email list at website.investing.io

Welcome to the Website Investing Podcast by Richard Patey powered by Substack - the new home for all of my content.Subscribe to get full access to all my content. Free subscribers get the weekly Website Investing Weekly (Monday) email and partial episodes of the Website Investing Podcast (Friday).Paying subscribers also receive the Website Investing Deals (Wednesday) email and the full episodes of the Website Investing Podcast (Friday).Paid podcast episodes are the parts of the conversation that elicit the best insights - too good for the general public. Get on the email list at website.investing.io