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Please HELP! Bought a website on Flippa, now the traffic is dwindling away! What's up?

by dnb700
15 replies
Bought this site on May 28th. Here are the hits to this site before I bought it ...

Jan - 54,317
Feb - 53,465
Mar - 60,657
Apr - 36,055

Here are the hits now...

May 31 st - 16,350
June - 1st - 13,111
June 2nd - 7,680
June 3rd - 328

According to Awstats, 94% of the traffic comes from direct address, bookmarks, and links in email. Google represents only 4%.

Any ideas on why the traffic is fading away?

All I can think of is, I changed the permalink structure in Wordpress from the default to "/%postname%/"

I used "Dean's Permalinks Migration" Plugin. This plugin is supposed to make it safe to change the permalink structure without breaking the old links to a site, without even hurting Google pagerank.

I appreciate any input!
#awstats #bought #dwindling #flippa #permalinks #traffic #website
  • Profile picture of the author ElectronPlumber
    Without looking at the site itself, it's really hard to say. Can you post the site?

    First off, reverse whatever you did immediately! You might very well have broken something. Until you understand what exactly is going on, put the site back to exactly what it was like before.

    Most likely you bought a site that either had bogus traffic being sent to it to inflate the rankings and thus the price, or the backlinks that were driving the traffic from other sites were controlled by the previous owner and they have since redirected them elsewhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author dnb700
      The address is Adidas Outlet | Adidas Shoes

      When you said, "the backlinks that were driving the traffic from other sites were controlled by the previous owner and they have since redirected them elsewhere" is the same thing I was thinking. But, it seems like a lot of work for someone to do that. Why would anyone do that anyway?
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
        I'd be more concerned about the trademark used in the domain name and site name than with the declining traffic.
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      • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
        Originally Posted by dnb700 View Post

        The address is Adidas Outlet | Adidas Shoes

        When you said, "the backlinks that were driving the traffic from other sites were controlled by the previous owner and they have since redirected them elsewhere" is the same thing I was thinking. But, it seems like a lot of work for someone to do that. Why would anyone do that anyway?
        It's not really that hard to re-direct links, especially if you build them using a link shortener with link rotation capability. For many of my own links I can change the destination URL with a simple push of a button.

        If someone was to get a site ranked to then flip it, they could technically just rotate those backlinks to another site they are trying to get ranked. Doing this allows them to get a site ranked, flip it, point links to another site and then flip that one.

        Now... since you said that the site was receiving traffic directly I would immediately assume that the site owner was simply paying for traffic to the site and its slowly reaching the amount of visits they purchased. That would explain why on month you can have 50k+ visits and now you have 368...
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  • Profile picture of the author trevorhickey
    Did you say you bought it and THEN the traffic started to decrease?
    You also noted that the Awstats said a large part of the traffic was from "direct address, bookmarks, and links in email. Google represents only 4%."

    Links in emails are likely no longer working because the previous owner is no longer emailing his list and trying to get hits.
    I doubt if bookmarks actually generate much - I bet the previous owner is no longer emailing his list.
    What is the site?
    how much was it bought for?
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    • Profile picture of the author dnb700
      I thought about the list thing too. As far as I know, I don't believe the previous owner was building a list. This niche isn't the type to build a list with. It's a "buying" niche.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
        Originally Posted by dnb700 View Post

        I don't believe the previous owner was building a list. This niche isn't the type to build a list with. It's a "buying" niche.
        :confused: Um what?

        He could easily have been building a list and then emailing out to them everytime he had a new shoe for sale. Now maybe has sold the site to you and has setup a new shoe site and keeps emailing his list about the new site...just a possible scenario

        PS: A buying niche is exactly the time of list you want to build from
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        • Profile picture of the author dnb700
          Your right... it could be possible.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shana_Adam
    Sadly alot of people do use paid traffic to inflate the statistics for the sole purpose of selling the site.

    Can you contact the previous owner find out what is going on?
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    • Profile picture of the author zannix
      I dont get it, first you've shown the hits over months, then hits over days... confused o_O
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  • Profile picture of the author mookinman
    This is not the first time I've seen this trick pulled on somebody. In truth, it's incredibly easy to build a site like this and sell it, if you know how. If the site was really any good and making money with long term prospects then they wouldn't have sold it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Marian Berghes
      Originally Posted by mookinman View Post

      This is not the first time I've seen this trick pulled on somebody. In truth, it's incredibly easy to build a site like this and sell it, if you know how. If the site was really any good and making money with long term prospects then they wouldn't have sold it.
      A lot of people have some sort of exit strategy in mind when starting a business. That's why you see established sites, with $100k/month income put up for sale and then they just keep growing with their new owner.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    I bought a site on Flippa and stupidly did not research the traffic of that site. The dirtbag owner bought cheap, meaningless traffic just to inflate the stats. After I took possession of the site and found out where the traffic was coming from, I emailed her and told her to cease those traffic sources immediately. She did. Point is ...always verify the traffic.

    Another point ... if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Why change permalinks on a site that is getting a lot of traffic if that traffic is real?

    If you were getting fake traffic, you're going to have some work to do to get real traffic.

    Another point has already been raised. Trademark issue. Adidas could send a cease and desist on this site at any time and the site will be gone.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    ll I can think of is, I changed the permalink structure in Wordpress from the default to "/%postname%/"
    Which means you lost ANY rankings/backlinks. This is a major change..you could as well make a site from scratch. Dont change the link structure on an established site.

    I used "Dean's Permalinks Migration" Plugin. This plugin is supposed to make it safe to change the permalink structure without breaking the old links to a site, without even hurting Google pagerank.
    Sorry didnt read that. Did you test this?
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  • Profile picture of the author shystar
    I am getting into buying websites now...this is the kind of stuff that scares me. You have to really investigate a website and know the ins and outs.
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