A Web Hosting, Webmaster Resource. $3000/mo, Can Make Much More!

Revenue Details

Revenue: I never really tried hard to monetized this site because much of my time was being put
into development work itself. Current Avg Monthly Profit: $3000

Text Link Sales: $1000 (I sell around 20-25 links for $40-$50/month) Sold Via Forums & Interested advertisers who contacted me through email/website.

Banner Sales:  $800-$1000 Sold Via buySellAds, Forums & Interested advertisers who contacted me.
 
Misc Commissions: $700- $1500.  Details: 

1) Sponsored Posts: $75/post (Avg 8 Posts sold every month) = $600

2) Affiliate programs like, WooThemes.com, StudioPress.com etc from the links embedded in my blog posts. ~  $100

3) In content Links on already published Posts ~ $100

4) Adsense ($3-$10/day)   ~ $150

5) Hosting Company Affiliate Programs ( $300+/month Just from HostGator) ~ $500


Avg Total Revenue/month: $3500
Expenses: $450 for Content Writing ( Optional ) + $50 VPS Rental
Profit = $3000   / $3450 (If Content is written by You)

__________________________________________________
 
Potential to make more Profits:  The site is still under monetized in the Following areas...

* Hosting Reviews: I have signed up for less than 40 Affiliate Programs, when there are 250+
Hosting Companies Listed that have affiliate programs available. All you need to do is signup for
these remaining affiliate programs and add your affiliate code on the website.
Till date i have never charged any hosting company for adding their website to the directory/Host
List, You can charge a small inclusion fee, I get 30-50 new requests every month.

* Hosting Coupons: This Section ranks on the first page of Google for many hosting coupons related keywords including "Hosting Coupons".

I'm using a normal Wp theme without any plugins to publish the coupons. And i think it is not the
right way do it, if you want to make any money. For this You can install the Wp-Coupon Plugin
(Costs $199). Once setup, It will automatically add your affiliate links into all the coupons you
publish.

* Hosting Forum: Opened for public on Apr 29,2010 , you can easily make more money by adding ads in-between the forum posts once the members start joining.

* Hosting Quotes: This has also been recently launched, You can make around $2-$10 from each lead you send to a hosting company. You can make more than $1000 by spending less than 5min/day if you know what you are doing.

I'm currently charging very nominal charges for advertisements/sponsorships and also minimal amount of advertising space is being used.  You can easily raise the prices a bit further + increase the no. of ads sold.

Traffic Details

Traffic & Seo:

Traffic is around 700-2000 visitors/day. Traffic is sent by Many Search engines including Google,
Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu etc., Current Alexa Rank is 34k (as on Apr 29,2010). Also, there are some popular blog posts that keep getting traffic from Social bookmarking sites everyday.

For the SEO part, i have done the optimization on all sections by myself. This site’s current
google.com rankings are as high as follows.....(Refer to the attached "Google Rankings" Screenshots)

In Top 10 results for " Web Hosting Reviews" :   Proof /Screenshot

In Top 60  results for "Web Hosting" :  Proof / Screenshot

In Top 10 Results for “Hosting Coupons” : Proof / Screenshot

also,

In Top 30 Results for "list of hosting companies"

In Top 50 Results for “Web Hosting Ratings”

If You want to drive traffic from these above keywords to your website through a PPC/Adwords Campaign, you will be paying anything between $1-$20 for a Single click/visitor !!!.

The site ranks for hundreds of other keywords in google.com, Yahoo, Bing etc., & at much higher positions in Google Country sites like google.ru, google.co.in. It also has first page rankings for many keywords including “Web Hosting” in other search engines. You can easily gain much higher rankings, if you can invest some time & money for Off-site optimization.

Here is a Screenshot with the list of top 50 Keywords for each of the sections, which i received traffic through search engines in the last few days (Tracked via StatCounter.com): Click!

Latest Google Analytics have been Added. However, Pls note that these stats are partial and the actual no.of visitors are much higher because, GA was not installed on All the Available parts of the website until last month. However you can check the Webalizer (or) Awstats Screenshots attached, since they represent complete visitor stats.

Does this auction violate the Flippa Terms and Conditions? If so, please report it.

Comments 34 public, 5 deleted

1. 

   Posted by:

   open4biz (+13)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:07:07 GMT

   Yay - I'm the firs to post!! ;p

   Let me start by saying that you have one of the most thoroughly documented opening posts I have ever seen. Nicely done with the supporting photos.

   So... what's the reserve?

   Thanks,

   Ansel

2. 

   Posted by:

   raja314 (+7)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:14:03 GMT

   Hi Ansel,

   Thanks for the comment. The reserve is set at apprx 11 Months Revenue. Please let me know if you need any other info

   Raja

3. 

   Posted by:

   Jam2010 (+2)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:37:44 GMT

   How on earth have you build up this hosting site with paying customers. I run a hosting site and seem to miss the target when it comes to marketing.

   What level of support, knowledge and time do you put into running the business at it's present state?

4. 

   Posted by:

   raja314 (+7)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:50:53 GMT

   Hi Jam2010,

   Thanks for the Comment. I'm not sure if i got your question right, but This website does not provide any kind of Hosting Service at present.

5. 

   Posted by:

   mntidagold (+7)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:50:09 GMT

   Wasn't this site recently listed?

6. 

   Posted by:

   raja314 (+7)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:49:46 GMT

   @mntidagold: The very first words of this auction clearly reads..."Note: * This Auction is a Relisting * "

7. 

   Posted by:

   silverback420 (+3)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:07:58 GMT

   Just wanted to say regarding...

   "Let me start by saying that you have one of the most thoroughly documented opening posts I have ever seen. Nicely done with the supporting photos."

   x2

   Alot of listings coud learn from this one.

8. 

   Posted by:

   mntidagold (+7)

   Date:

   Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:09:17 GMT

   Sorry about that. Somehow missed it.

9. 

   Posted by:

   raja314 (+7)

   Date:

   Sat, 01 May 2010 15:06:31 GMT

   Update:

   I have somehow forgot to mention some sources of revenue in the auction description above. Now i cannot edit the description since it already has a bid. I make apprx $500/mo additionally from sponsored posts on these sections:

   http://hostwisely.com/articles/
   http://hostwisely.com/coupons/

   Here are some examples of the very recent Paid posts:

   http://hostwisely.com/articles/importance-of-software-testing/
   http://hostwisely.com/articles/customer-relationship-management-in-business/
   http://hostwisely.com/coupons/how-to-find-the-best-bargains/

   I get Paid around $30/post. Most of these are from people contacting me directly through the website and many of them are return customers which is the same as my other sources of listed revenue in the description

   Please let me know if you have any questions

   Best Regards,
   Raja

10. 

    Posted by:

    Boca2300 (+4)

    Date:

    Sun, 02 May 2010 22:23:11 GMT

    Nice website but revenue posted comes no where close to stated monthly amount. The payments posted cover banners and links for anywhere from 1 to 4 months and don't even add up to the amount you claim as single month's revenue. Are you able to show actual proof of revenue for each month for each of the last 6 months? Thanks!

11. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Sun, 02 May 2010 23:12:53 GMT

    @Boca2300: Thanks for the question & your observation !

    Firstly I started to monetize the website since 5 months back. I did not get a chance to monetize

    before that.

    As i mentioned in the listing, the payments come from various advertisers who contacted me via the

    contact form on the website, forums, BuySellAds. Therefore the payments come from various direct

    sources. My Paypal has hundreds of transactions every month & none these May or May not look the

    same. It is a tough job for me to dig through all those transactions and find which were

    sent for advertising on HostWisely..... because most of the advertisers never included the subject

    of Payment while sending the payment, and they send the payment manually(not through some kind of Paypal buttons) But i always request them to include subject. Also, i have not included some of the recent transactions in this listing, but i will do so now.

    Since i never planned to sell this very very dear website of mine, i really cared less abt the

    monetization related details. I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify that, i cannot provide

    exact monthly revenue screenshots or details. All i can say to defend my claims is i sold a fixed

    no. of advertising spots/opportunities and they were all SOLD-OUT in the last two-months & i have stated abt these in the listing description for you to check.

    However, I will now try to dig into my paypal once again and see if i can actually filter these transactions. I will post as many as i find.

    Due to the above mentioned problem, i'd like to assure everyone that i will guarantee a Net Profit of atleast $3500/mo & revenue of atleast $4000/mo for a duration of 3 Months immediately after the sale. I will work closely with the new owner and try to increase the profits more than what they are now. After the first three months the new owner will be responsible for monetizing on his own.

    Best Regards,
    Raja

12. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Mon, 03 May 2010 00:34:49 GMT

    Just Added three additional Screenshots to the listing and uploaded somemore here: http://hostwisely.com/docs/april.rar

13. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Mon, 03 May 2010 00:59:11 GMT

    I will have to say this again but, It took me a Lot of Time, Money & Effort to make the site, what it is today. I have concentrated on Developing & Growing the website. Its not like i will sell the website and vanish, i will be there all the time to support my product.If anybody wants to talk to me on phone, Pls PM me for my phone no.

    Best Regards,
    Raja

14. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Mon, 03 May 2010 14:45:56 GMT

    *** Looking for Serious Bidders Only ***

    Spammers & Time Wasters will be reported to Flippa.

15. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Mon, 03 May 2010 22:45:02 GMT

    Just seen two conversions from hostgator in the first two days of this month. There is no doubt that this month's commission from hostgator will easily cross the $1.5k Mark.

16. 

    Posted by:

    J.Roberts (+3)

    Date:

    Tue, 04 May 2010 13:18:18 GMT

    Can I ask why you have cut off new advertising inclusions? Bidding is currently below your reserve price with less than half the auction time left. Would you be willing to provide your reserve price either here or by PM please?

17. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Tue, 04 May 2010 15:12:24 GMT

    @Mlore: Pls dont make unwarranted or exaggerated claims. Any of the Work related to the website was done by professionals/experienced companies.

    @J.Roberts: The Reserve is set to just $40k

18. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Tue, 04 May 2010 19:41:09 GMT

    @J.Roberts: We have not cut off advertising inclusions. What we are currently not accepting is... requests of hosting companies to be reviewed/included. If the new owner wants to accept requests he can do so depending on his time availability for adding the new hosting companies.

19. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Tue, 04 May 2010 21:36:33 GMT

    @MLore: Yes, i can give the details of my seo providers to the winner. I dont pay any kind of monthly rentals for links. You are open to discuss more directly when you get the details.

20. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Wed, 05 May 2010 01:18:02 GMT

    Just Updated the Google Analytics Reports. For the "Search/Entrance keywords" pls check the second PDF. There were more than 300 visits in the last 30 days via search for high paying keywords like "Web Hosting" , "Web Hosting Reviews" & few more. If you compare it to that of a PPC campaign you would have paid a Min sum of $4000. And remember i'm talking abt visits only from google!.

21. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Wed, 05 May 2010 21:04:55 GMT

    I've spent huge amounts of money for SEO. Most of the profit i made from the site went back into SEO . Most of the backlinks to this website are permanent. They will remain even after you buy the site & will keep delivering you good traffic. I'm really happy with my SEO guys And i'm sure they'll make the new owner happy too!

22. 

    Posted by:

    jl255 (+5)

    Date:

    Thu, 06 May 2010 05:04:13 GMT

    when will the current sold textlinks & banners expire? i suppose the new owner will need to personally keep finding new textlink & banner buyers each mth to maintain the $2k revenue? also, i presume most of these textlinks & banner spots are not sold on a long-term basis? so each mth, we gotta start from scratch to find new buyers?

23. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Thu, 06 May 2010 05:55:23 GMT

    @jl255: Most of the sold text links expire in the next week & All banners expire in the next 30 days. 6 Links expiration is spread through next 6 Months (3 expire in July 2010).

    Finding advertisers is completely upto you. You are free to do what you find most profitable in terms of money or time. 50% of my advertisers are repeat, they always come back asking me for renewal. I usually use webmaster forums to find new advertisers, bcos it is a cost effective way. If you want to completely automate the selling of advertising space i'd recommed you to join programs like text-link-ads for contextual ads. You can also automate the banner ads by making Banner spaces exclusive to fully BuySellAds, But, i've had greater succes selling them directly through the advertise page located on the website.....http://hostwisely.com/advertise/

    "so each mth, we gotta start from scratch to find new buyers?"

    No, Not at all, on avg there are 2 new advertising enquiries per week thru the advertise page. And 50% of the advertisers asking for renewals. i just renewed one client today and they were totally happy to pay at my current rates against what they paid for 3 months ago.

24. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Thu, 06 May 2010 06:06:36 GMT

    P.S. I have increased the advertising rates 3x times to what i used to charge 3 months back.

25. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Thu, 06 May 2010 21:12:28 GMT

    Pls Feel free to PM me, if you have any questions.

    Raja

26. 

    Posted by:

    flagged (+6)

    Date:

    Fri, 07 May 2010 10:52:58 GMT

    I am very intrested in purchasing this site, what is the reason for relisting? since the last was April?

    thanks

27. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Fri, 07 May 2010 10:59:42 GMT

    @flagged: hi, Thanks for the interest. I have relisted this bcos i couldnt find the right buyer previously.

28. 

    Posted by:

    drfuzzy (+6)

    Date:

    Sat, 08 May 2010 03:33:47 GMT

    1) What would be the pros and cons of having an adsense block on a site like this?
    2) Can the buyer be from any country? Do your affiliates allow Australians? Where are you located?
    3) Mind telling us a bit about any other sites you've sold?

29. 

    Posted by:

    raja314 (+7)

    Date:

    Sat, 08 May 2010 03:44:49 GMT

    @drfuzzy: PM sent!

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