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Who Inspires You In Domaining and Internet Marketing?

Discussion in 'Business Discussions' started by accelerator, Oct 20, 2014.

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  1. accelerator United Kingdom

    accelerator Well-Known Member

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    Hi Guys

    1) Which well-known people inspire/have inspired you in the domain industry?

    2) Which well-known people inspire/have inspired you in the internet marketing industry?

    3) Which Acorn forum members inspire/have inspired you?

    I'll start:

    1) Inspiring me in the domain industry are:
    - Adam Dicker. He blogs at theartofthename.com. He's done some good video blogs that are very inspirational and he shares a lot of great tips.

    - Michael Cyger of domainsherpa.com. He does a lot of great interviews with successful domainers.

    - The guys at DNJournal.com, particularly for their profiles of successful domainers.

    2) Inspiring me in internet marketing are:

    - When I was first starting out, Kieron Donoghue. His blog at Here.org.uk was very popular amongst affiliate marketers and provided some good insights. He also had some good success stories. His latest is selling Playlists.net to Warner Music.

    Again when I was first starting, Jeremy Schoemaker of shoemoney.com. I liked his frank approach.

    3) Acorn Members that Have Inspired Me:

    Edwin - For his professionalism and general enthusiasm about domains, and hundreds of helpful posts.

    QualityNonsense - The Wish.co.uk founder who recently acquired the domain digital.com for $373,500. He's not on Acorn much, but he has shared some of his success stories in domaining and that has been an inspiration to me.

    I have many more inspirations which I may add to the thread later, but now I'd like to hear from you guys.

    Rgds :cool:
     
  2. Domain Forum

    Acorn Domains Elite Member

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    IWA Meetup
     
  3. Retired_Member38

    Retired_Member38 Banned

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    What are the other successes ? I loved reading some stories this week about his sale of playlists.net... its great seeing someone build something genuinely useful from the ground up then sell it for presumably a shitload of cash. But when someone mentions his name I only think of Playlists and failing miserably with poker and bingo.org.uk.... where are the other successes ?
     
  4. boxfish United Kingdom

    boxfish Well-Known Member

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    He had UKoffers and group of various similar sites. I didn't really know about him then but I remember his posting a pic of a month's commission which was pretty impressive.



    I find Domainseller200 (Frank) as a big inspiration, mainly because we both used to frequent a forum completely unrelated to internet marketing (it was a fitness forum) in about 2004/5 (we didn't know each other) and he was posting about struggling with money but needing to get his car fixed, trying to save some money for a wedding, not being able to sleep for stress, having a baby and generally stressing about life and finances. (I hope Frank doesn't mind me saying this)

    Then he started posting about wanting to start his own business offline, then an online business, then he started offering offering his wife's services with her new business decorating chocolate bars (iirc) then he posted up his first affiliate site (which was bloody terrible) it was a daily deals, offers type website iirc, then about a website he was starting about business networking (iirc) and then kind of disappeared out of my online life.

    Fast forward a few years and he reappears in my online life doing extremely well, with several lead gen/aff sites, selling £xx,xxx domains, has a great domain portfolio, a big house, several luxury cars, happily married and his Mrs also has what appears is a thriving lifestyle business and they have a great family.

    What he has achieved in such a short time is amazing, as is his attitude and willingness to help others - a true inspiration.
     
  5. accelerator United Kingdom

    accelerator Well-Known Member

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    He was very successful as a broadband affiliate in the early days of affiliate marketing as well.
     
  6. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    I just remember the days of him boasting about his affiliate pay-outs with a bank statement, it split opinion! I suspect we both used a4u around the same time, as others on here.
     
  7. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    When I originally started reading the forum I was inspired reading past sales threads in the premium section, Barry Garners for instance.

    I admire a lot of people on here; anyone who is doing well really.
     
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  8. accelerator United Kingdom

    accelerator Well-Known Member

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    I would agree, Barry is very inspiring.

    Rgds
     
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  9. figleaf007 United Kingdom

    figleaf007 Active Member

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  10. accelerator United Kingdom

    accelerator Well-Known Member

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    I remember reading that thread. I started doing affiliate marketing in late 2003, and that thread was quite important at the time because it was "proof of concept". When starting out back then, I found everything so new and mysterious, that you needed something like this to give you faith.

    I think it's incorrect to say it cannot be replicated, it's just an awful lot harder to replicate it. Back then, there was much less competition, and you often had "first mover" advantage. I actually think there are now big opportunities available, but it will take a lot of effort and skill to succeed, there is no longer an "easy win". What is really happening is that the internet is bit by bit taking over from terrestrial TV. If you think about the budgets that terrestrial TV has, that tells you there are more opportunities coming to the internet (and mobile). In fact, mobile marketing as a sector is a huge opportunity right now (*must learn how to build mobile sites LOL).

    Rgds
     
  11. MikeJDS

    MikeJDS Active Member

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    'Back then' it was basically a free for all to bid on just about any "brand keyword".
    That's the major difference why it's not so easy to replicate these days. :)

    If you find a way to replicate that anywhere close to that level now, then PM me your statement and let me know. ;)
     
  12. invincible

    invincible Well-Known Member

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    Well known to whom? :) This industry has its fair share of self promoters and in. uk it's often the ones that keep themselves largely in the background that are doing very well.

    Paul Cotton (safesys) and Martin Reeves (focusdigital) are two British people that I got to know back when I began doing what I do. Both men were thoroughly decent and inspirational and I used to thoroughly enjoy talking to them both online.

    Two other people who, in my opinion, have great eyes for good domain names, particularly the kind of domain names I also find attractive, are Richard Conway and Rimvydas Karpavicius.

    I'd like to think I'd always have time to communicate with or read posts by these four.

    These people for specific things stated (and maybe more but certainly not for everything):

    Edwin for provoking my thought when we speak, for being a good listener and a sharing a lot of his intellect. Also for his enormous contributions throughout the dot.uk/direct.UK consultations.

    Monkey (Lee Wood, I believe) because he questions what might appear to be bullshit and doesn't seem to desire to be popular or seek fame unlike some others and because he doesn't bang on about things like "the misses/the missus/other 'arf", "the kids", or some miscellaneous personal tradegy. I feel he is a good understanding of many things and appears to have honed in on what he needed to do to become financially successful, whether I agree with it or not. He seems to be able to give well reasoned responses to posts that question his opinions and doesn't appear to get wound up.

    Murray for being pretty well written and capable of providing well reasoned contributions unlike a lot of others that are, in my opinion, plainly thick. He seems to have done quite well attaining the domain names I have become aware of. I cannot currently think of others of his age (mid 20s I presume) that have done so well in.uk such a short time and so recently. However I suspect that could partially be to do with his character.

    Alan (admin) for keeping this place running for about ten years now and having the patience of a saint.

    (from iPad - K)
     
  13. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    Was just going to add that, Kieron was involved at a stage where anything goes; brand keywords via ppc etc, and his 'bank statement' was manipulated somewhat by delayed/deferred payments etc (nothing for months before). I use to promote a retailer using their own brand name and similar and made a significant amount; they were perfectly happy with this until one day they just changed their mind. The entire industry has changed.
     
  14. MikeJDS

    MikeJDS Active Member

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    Just to add, my comment wasn't meant to take anything away from what he did at all.

    Big Kudos to him & to alot of other names I recognise and have respect for in this thread for many other reasons, including some already mentioned.
     
  15. ian

    ian Well-Known Member

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    Oh indeed, he and a few others did very well, through a lot of hard work and effort no doubt. This is quite often the case with early adapters; no different to the domain sector either.
     
  16. figleaf007 United Kingdom

    figleaf007 Active Member

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    I'd also say show me a one page website with a price comparison table that won't get slapped by google (either ppc or seo) or indeed the ability to put an affiliate url into a PPC ad and not even serve a page yourself....a lot of Kieron's stuff was based around that and those days are certainly over...
     
  17. Murray

    Murray Well-Known Member

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    Very kind, thank you.
     
  18. julian United Kingdom

    julian Banned

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    Lee Owen



    h
    e

    n
    e
    v
    e
    r g i v e s u p...
     
  19. scooter United Kingdom

    scooter Well-Known Member

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    That's a blast from the past. Is he still in Bulgaria?
     
  20. accelerator United Kingdom

    accelerator Well-Known Member

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    The last I remember of Lee, he was running a blog called Squillions. I think this might be his Twitter:

    https://twitter.com/squillionsblog

    Rgds
     
  21. namealot United Kingdom

    namealot Well-Known Member

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    I understand the original deal with the Bulgarians was they’ll send us beggars and pickpockets we send them lee although I understand they now want the beggars and pickpockets back
     
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    Last edited: Oct 22, 2014
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