Give life to a dying site - suggestions?

13 replies
I purchased this site a while back and then never did a thing with it. Life took turns i guess, and i just recently remembered it.

As you can see, the layout is old, some links are broken, there is no new content or any backlinking.

But it does have potential. There's tons of stuff in it. and it has 3 niches - shopping, weddings and travel.

I guess I could revamp it with a new template, add some new content, put in some adsense....

That will take time. I have a new project in my hands plus I'm just about to move from Portugal to New Zealand. So time is very limited.

So i thought i'd put it in your hands. If more of you say "dump it" I will delete it. However, if most of you reply "keep it" I'll find the time to revamp it.

I do have a bigger project in my hands that has great money-making potential.

I'd have to spend time writing content or buying it.
I'd have to restart the link-building and that's costly too.
Its unlikely this site will give me any real return in the next 12 months.
Is it worth my time?

I see potential in it (and i guess that's why I never did let go of it). Do you?
#dying #give #life #shopping #site #suggestions #travel #weddings
  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Currently, the content goes in too many directions. An idea off the top of my head if you want to keep it:

    Make weddings the main focus. You can work in travel for honeymoons or even for the ceremony itself, and shopping for wedding gifts of course. Unify the message, clean things up, and put up good content/products. I think it could succeed.
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    • Profile picture of the author crissie
      Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

      Currently, the content goes in too many directions. An idea off the top of my head if you want to keep it:

      Make weddings the main focus. You can work in travel for honeymoons or even for the ceremony itself, and shopping for wedding gifts of course. Unify the message, clean things up, and put up good content/products. I think it could succeed.
      I thought of that too - choosing one niche. I'd have chosen Travel to be my focus. But I see why Weddings could open up more doors.

      Thing is it doesn't turn me on if you know what i mean. I was thinking more around the idea of building a portal that would have the 3 niches within it. I don't know how to think small. That's my problem and that's also why I can't decide whether i should be wasting time on it. There's so many wedding sites, travel sites, and shopping sites out there. If i were to do this, i'm thinking portal. Is it worth my time?

      Thanks for your idea, Joe.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    I'd recommend against the portal, especially if it is in the same vein the site is already in. When you try to be an authority in multiple niches under one roof without connecting them, you become an authority at none of them.

    If you don't like weddings, why promote it, even on a portal? You don't just join a niche because it's there.
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    • Profile picture of the author crissie
      Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

      If you don't like weddings, why promote it, even on a portal? You don't just join a niche because it's there.
      I get you. But what attracted me into buying the site was that, to me, the 3 seemed to fit well together, and thus my thinking was they sold eachother.

      Weddings sell honeymoon trips.
      Honeymoon planners buy travel books.
      Brides buy music, magazines about bridal gowns...
      Travellers get married at some stage.
      Travellers shop online too.
      Online shoppers sometimes go on holidays and get married...

      That's how I was thinking. Too grand?
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  • Profile picture of the author Gambino
    My opinion would be to scrap it. Personally, I'd have a hard time working on something that I didn't think would turn a profit after a year. It doesn't sound like you're passionate about the site either. Might as well focus your time, money, energy to the other site you have in the pipeline.
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  • Profile picture of the author larry1113
    Mmm I don't think the site is focused enough.

    I'd say focus in on one topic, get established in that topic and then maybe build out from there. But if you focus on too many topics, your attention will be too spread out.

    If you have a team going maybe you can make it work because I can see what you mean by the three fitting together.

    This said, the general rule of marketing goes: if you target everyone you're targeting no one.
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  • Profile picture of the author RobShambaugh
    It looks like a lot of work to me and it seems like you don't really have the time to focus on it. I'd say scrap it instead of setting yourself up for frustration. I agree with the other replies that the site isn't focused enough on a single niche.
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  • Kittens wouldn't hurt. Oh, okay, those tiny little claws do scratch a bit.

    I actually wrote out a long article about how perfectly reasonable, logical assumptions don't always mirror human behavior but I think you've decided to keep this unwieldy monster of a site so I deleted it.

    The site was something else before you bought it, right? Because the meta description still says: HYIP, HYIP programs, travel discounts, shopping discounts.

    Wikipedia tells us, "A high-yield investment program (or programme), HYIP, is a type of Ponzi scheme which is an investment scam that promises unsustainably high return by paying previous investors with the money invested by new investors."

    A guy came to our front door the other day. My husband answered it. The guy says, "Here, take this card. I'm a representative for this company but it's too complicated to explain. Go visit the website." (Great sales pitch!)

    We did. It was an HYIP scam topped with a thin veneer of travel and shopping.

    So I think these sites already have a sketchy reputation and I wouldn't want to have anything to do with this one.

    But that's up to you.

    fLufF
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    • Profile picture of the author crissie
      Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat View Post

      The site was something else before you bought it, right? Because the meta description still says: HYIP, HYIP programs, travel discounts, shopping discounts.
      --
      To be honest I don't even know exactly what's in the site and I hadn't even noticed the HYIP thing. I think the previous owner was trying pretty much anything to get some action on the site.

      I was intrigued with the idea of the niches working together.
      But I guess I'm scrapping the project.

      Thanks to all those who gave constructive criticism.

      (as for the guy who suggested kittens...baaah)
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      • I was intrigued with the idea of the niches working together.
        But I guess I'm scrapping the project.


        You can still keep the idea even if you discard the site. But there are HYIP backlinks built to it, so you would have to work to get those removed before it could be ranked for your chosen keywords. So I think you're wise to move on to something that will reward your efforts.

        fLufF
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  • Profile picture of the author ELVISTHEPELVIS
    I would agree with most here and suggest that you try to limit it to one topic. Having multiple topics will just prevent you from focusing.
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  • Profile picture of the author KickAss Marketing
    With this decision, I recommend that you do or hire someone to do cost-benefit analysis and opportunity cost analysis. These decision making tools will help you decide whether it'll be more costly to dump or revamp the site. Also, you should take into consideration the amount of money to put into the old site (just in case you'll keep it), if you could earn more money if you decided to put that money elsewhere.

    Also, there's what businessmen call gut feel. So it's actually up to you, its really hard to work on something that's out from others' suggestions. It's better that you-yourself decide something first, then stick with it.
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