This Website Can Be Yours! Starting Bid On Ebay – $15,000!

After rather lengthy deliberation on how to price this website for sale, I have decided to list it today at $15,000 on eBay as 10 day auction.

If you have no time to read the eBay listing, here is a short run down of things:

  • Go-Beyon-MLS.com is being auctioned on as is basis.
  • In addition to the website (both domain name and content and control over RSS subscriptions) the winning bidder will also assume control of Twitter Account as Facebook Fan Page (consider it as a free added bonus) associated with this website as neither will be of any use to me once the website sells.

I make this post sticky and will update it as the auction progresses and I find that some important questions should be answered and clarifications made.

I will also use this post to make a daily note about this auction, just like the one bellow:

Firday, October 15, 2010 minutes after listing went live: There is barely any activity as far as views/watchers are concerned only 2 views and you guessed it – 0 watchers. Hopefully things will change soon.

The End Of Dotnext and LeapFish???

Shortly after publishing the previous post, an anonymous comment was submitted via contact form of the website.

Here is what it said:

just so you know, Ms. Slader is the only employee left at Dotnext. Everyone was let go yesterday

Note to new readers: Dotnext Inc is a parent company of LeapFish.

The Contra Costa Time in fact confirms that Dotnext has been “downsizing” while quoting the CEO of the company:

….”The company has downsized,” said Ben Behrouzi, a Danville resident who is founder and principal executive at DotNext….
…At its peak a few months ago, DotNext had about 100 workers. Now it has about 15, Behrouzi estimated. Numerous employees were let go this week…

Continue reading “The End Of Dotnext and LeapFish???”

Bloggers Are Disgusting & Twisted… According to LeapFish Employee.

LeapFish has been given a cold shoulder on many occasions by the leading technology blogs. However, today the things you say on the internet tend to stick around, something LeapFish management and employees fail to understand over and over again.

Ms. Slader, who according to her several online profiles is an executive assistant of Dontnext, Inc. as well as company called LeapFish.com wrote the following Tweet:

Blggers are disgusting and twisted???

I rarely challenge people about what they say on twitter, unless their profile clearly states association with a particular company or institution.

Here is what Ms. Slader’s profile says as of the writing of this article:
Ms Slader's Twitter
Therefore my challenge to Ms. Slader was purely based on her representing a particular company, otherwise Ms. Slader would have never learned of my existence:
Vlad Zablotskyy on Twitter
Ms. Slader took my comment as a threat:
Ms. Slader's Personal Attack
While overlooking the vicious and very personal attack on my hair style (see my twitter profile picture to see what I am talking about) I would like to clarify one thing, should Ms. Slader cared enough to read this post. My tweet was not to threaten or scare anyone. What I really hoped for, in fact, was that Ms. Slader would get the hint and delete that hasty tweet, before it added more embarrassment to LeapFish’s already struggling reputation.

I also believe that Ms. Slader did not come to a conclusion that “bloggers are disgusting & twisted” on her own, but rather was influenced by her boss(es) or coworkers. Perhaps while taking notes during one of company executives meetings? Therefore it makes more difficult to explain her vicious and personal attack based on disliking my “fictional haircut”, a courtesy of YearBookYourself.com. I only wish I had such a beautiful set of hair!!!

The moral of the story??? Do you know if your secretary is active on Twitter or Facebook? Do you know what is she/he saying? Does it make your company look bad? Should you ask her/him to make their tweets private and hidden from the outside world???

In my opinion, Ms. Slader would be better off calling out, Matt Brown, Robin Wauters, Jolie O’Dell, Trace Richardson, Marshall Kirkpatrick and few others rather than making a “blanket” statements directed towards bloggers in general. Could it be that Ms. Slader is not aware of the fact that LeapFish.com awarded numbers of bloggers with Wiis, personal computers, iPads and plans to award $50,000 in cash in exchange for “good” publicity?

Disclosure: The above post is my personal opinion. No one paid or offered me any gifts to write the above posts.I believe Ms. Slader is good and hardworking individual. I believe Ms. Slader’s opinion of bloggers may have been influenced by others, perhaps even her boss(es). It is possible Ms. Slader made the above statements against her own will.

Selling Your Website or Blog: eBay vs Flippa.com

When I wrote about my intention to sell this blog, I certainly did not expect to still be it’s owner more than one month down the road. I would like to thank those offering feedback. Most of those providing the feedback agreed that when it comes to decidea price/value/worth of a website, the buyer will have a final say.

Exposing this website to as many potential buyers as possible may not be as easy as initially envisioned. Part of me sincerely hope that the future owner of this website will be one of the regular readers or subscribers. I understand, however that my hope may not realize. Meanwhile two website come to mind where I can sell this blog: eBay and Flippa.com. I am still uncertain which one to use.

Selling Website or Blog on eBay
Being the King of online auctions it is no wonder eBay attracts thousands of sellers who try to sell website or blog. Yesterday (July 6, 2010) for example 1,591 auctions ended in the category “Internet Businesses & Websites“. The bad news, however, is that only about 120 the those listings actually sold. Two highest auctions ended in $8,100.00 and $13,990.00 – one of these buyers did not get a good deal in my opinion. While eBay certainly can expose you “website or blog for sale” to a larger “audience”, there is good chance you may end up selling you website to some one with very little experience as far as websites and Internet business are concerned. This is certainly not my Intention. I do not want to sell this blog for more than it’s true value is. I was surprised however to see so many auctions ending not being sold for as little as $0.99- surely the domain name along should be worth more than that.

Selling Website or Blog on Flippa.com
Flippa.com is a relatively new website and unlike eBay is exclusively dedicated to buying and selling websites.
It of course attracts completely different kind of buyers and sellers – both buyers and sellers on Flippa.com know what they are doing. It appears that half of the websites listed at Flippa.com end up being sold. Take for example the listing from yesterday, July 6, 2010, out of 89 ended auctions 47 were sold. Even though Flippa.com has a slightly higher listing fee ($19+5% success fee)- it offers more flexibility when the length of the auction is concerned. If you list your website or domain at Flippa.com as public auction you can have it active up to 30 days and up to 6 months if you list your website as a “private sale”.

Since I have never sold a website or domain before, I created following poll to find out if you prefere Flippa over eBay:




As of today, I am leaning towards Flippa.com….

Make Your Google Local Listing “Stand Out” For $25 Per Month

It was not the question of “if” but rather “when” would Google finally monetize on their “free” service called Googe Places (aka “Google Local Ads” and “Google Local Business Center”). If you have not logged into your account today, there is a surprise waiting for you. Google is offering you to “yellow tag” some features on your listing for a flat $25 per month fee. Depending on your choice, a yellow tag will appear in your listing, which should encourage internet users visit your website, browse your business’ photos and videos or read the “Google place posts“:

I was trying to find, without any success, a business using this new “advertising” opportunity with Google. Maybe because it is new.

Should you jump on using this new “yellow tagging” advertising? It all depends. If your listing is already getting good results, above described yellow tag can draw more eye-balls to your listing. The good news is that you can give it a try for one month to see how well will it work for your business.

Have you seen these “yellow tags” around yet?

UPDATE, June 25, 2010: Apparently Google has been rolling out tags from city to city since April 20, 2010. I understand, however, that at this time not every one has this option in their Google Places Accout… yet.