Who Inspires You In Domaining and Internet Marketing?

[accelerator]

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

 

[Retired_Member38]

- 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.

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 ?

 

[boxfish]

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 ?

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.

 

[accelerator]

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 ?

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

 

[ian]

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

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.

 

[Murray]

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.

 

[accelerator]

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

I would agree, Barry is very inspiring.

Rgds

 

[figleaf007]

That Kieron thread is legendary - the statement had some pretty big numbers being paid in from various networks, the pic has gone but the thread remains - http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?345974-My-Bank-Statement-Monthly-Earnings-from-AM

It was a big inspiration for me back in the day. Just a note to anyone thinking about it, this can no longer be replicated!

Apart from that, yes, love Domain Sherpa and their shows, always take something good out of them.

 

[accelerator]

That Kieron thread is legendary - the statement had some pretty big numbers being paid in from various networks, the pic has gone but the thread remains - http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?345974-My-Bank-Statement-Monthly-Earnings-from-AM

It was a big inspiration for me back in the day. Just a note to anyone thinking about it, this can no longer be replicated!

Apart from that, yes, love Domain Sherpa and their shows, always take something good out of them.

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

 

[MikeJDS]

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.
Rgds

'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.

 

[ian]

'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.

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.

 

[MikeJDS]

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.

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.

 

[ian]

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.

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.

 

[figleaf007]

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...

 

[Murray]

Murray

Very kind, thank you.

 

[julian]

Lee Owen



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[scooter]

Lee Owen



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That's a blast from the past. Is he still in Bulgaria?

 

[accelerator]

That's a blast from the past. Is he still in Bulgaria?

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

 

[namealot]

That's a blast from the past. Is he still in Bulgaria?

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

 

[Retired_Member39]

Very kind, thank you.

Murray has a background in SEO and made much of his profit from SEO domains so is he really an inspiration from a pure bread and butter skilled domain value perspective?.