Archive for the ‘Entrepreneurship’ Category

The greeting card industry is quite interesting and highly profitable….think about it…$2 – $9 for a card that costs $.50 to make…nice business!  However, it can also be viewed as a chore or hassle to have to remember to buy cards for every occasion . . .

My good friend and camp buddy growing-up had a marvelous idea to create an online greeting card club that would automatically send you the cards you need, in advance, for upcoming occasions and even address the envelopes for customers so all that have to do is sign the card….pretty good idea!  Think about it….how many lazy males and/or ultra busy women would love to pay $X per month or every three months to have greeting cards picked and delivered for them….what a time saver!

So now of course my friend just has a beautiful baby boy and his regular job is keeping him from taking his business plan to the next step….

Anyone interested in his domains which include:

TheGreetingCardClub.com

ClubGreetingCard.com

TheBirthdayCardClub.com

Let me know…..this could be interesting and a great business for an artist!

@AndrewHazen

Having been inspired by Elliot’s Blog, Fusible and Morgan who posted traffic and revenue for some of their mini sites… I thought I would do the same.  As a SEO guy, I thought it would also be interesting to see how my mini sites perform to others (mainly domainers) as I do all my own SEO.  Admittedly, I haven’t done a lot of affiliate offers….but I’d like to…. You may also know that one my personal hobbies is growing my Coupon Network . . . it is from here I will share some data:

FoodCouponsDirect.com
Domain Cost – $9
Development Costs: $500
Q1 Pageviews: 58,000+
Q1 PPC Revenue: $1,700+
Affiliate Revenue: $1,000+

AllPrintableCoupons.com
Domain Cost – $9
Development Costs: $500
Q1 Pageviews: 94,000
Q1 PPC Revenue: $1,600+
Affiliate Revenue: $1,500+

AllCerealCoupons.com
Domain Cost – $9
Development Costs: $400
Q1 Pageviews: 42,788
Q1 PPC Revenue: $1,500+
Affiliate Revenue: n/a

I believe the lesson to be learned here is that while category killer domain names absolutely ROCK, you can still have fun and make some decent revenues with hand registered domain names for $9 (GRIN)….enjoy the beautiful day!

@AndrewHazen

I have been reading the book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins and it is essentially a study that was done over a number of years that looked at companies that went from good to great and those that didn’t…it also goes over similarities and differences between those companies that went from Good to Great and those that didn’t…

A common theme throughout the book is culture, leadership and the people….and how it plays a factor in companies going from Good to Great….

I literally put down the book and head out for a haircut to SuperCuts (i need a simple buzz and trim haircut) at 4:50pm on a Sunday…when I get there four hairstylist are working and I already begin to hear one or two say….”This is my last haircut, then I can’t do more, I gotta get out of here”…..then the phone rings….”Don’t answer it, tell them we are closed at 5….I need to get out of here”….all this time I am sitting waiting for a haircut and clearly don’t want one of the “unhappy” SuperCuts team members cutting my hair (too bad as I am an excellent tipper!).  Bottom line, if this was Boss Undercover, SuperCuts management would NOT be happy….trust me!

To the contrary, my wife and I recently founded our own 501(c)3 non-profit charity called ODASH …..I went to Chase bank to setup the proper bank accounts and as I was leaving the bank my cell phone rang and it was Chase congratulating me on my recent incorporation of ODASH and asked if I had any banking needs….quite a different experience that what I ad with SuperCuts…I actually thought Chase was monitoring me from their parking lot before they made the call…LOL  Bottom line is that I had a much more positive customer experience with Chase – thank you Chase!

Really looking forward to speaking LIVE this morning at The Learning Annex Internet Marketing Expo and seeing Marc Ostrofsky who sold Business.com speak as well.

Join us if you are in NYC…..

Read a good snippet in INC Magazine that suggests you do a 80/20 analysis.  Identify the 20% of activities and lcients that produce 80% of your revenue, and then the 20% of activities and clients that consume 80% of your time.

Then, set a reminder to pop-up on your computer at least 3 times per day that asks, “Am I being productive or am I just being busy?

Let me know how it goes

- @AndrewHazen

Just noticed some semi-decent Guide-related domains that are pending delete and should be available soon for hand registration.  The list inlcudes:

AtoZGuide.com (lots of ways to approach this from a content perspective)

UlcerGuide.com

VelvetGuide.com

SeizureGuide.com

RotaryGuide.com

OddGuide.com

SingerGuide.com (great for an eBook on how to become a singer)

CheaperGuide.com

CarSpecGuide.com

HusbandGuide.com (could be interesting)

HebrewGuide.com (easy to monetize)

As I always say, if one of these topics are something you are TRUELY passionate about then you can have a lot of fun and make a lot of money with some of these domains….good luck!

@AndrewHazen

Bryan, Steve M., Matt and I miss the Prime Visibility team (NOTE – Bryan is under the red arrow)

Part entrepreneur, part domainer – I love the snow and nothing can keep me away from Prime Visibility

Have a great day everyone and BE SAFE!

After a great night in NYC at a domainers meet-up, thanks again Elliot, I awoke this morning to a few inches of snow on the ground with another 8″ – 12″ to come….

As tradition has it, I check my blackberry before getting out of bed and began to see emails that asked if our Internet Marketing Company is open today…my first response is “Why, is the Internet down?” – I say that half-kidding because the mission of Prime Visibility is to “deliver extraordinary internet marketing services that exceed our clients expectations!”

Regardless of the weather, our eTail clients such as Lauren Hutton, Brother, Bagel Boss, MetroCandy, AllFreshSeafood, FadToys, etc. are all open for business regardless of the weather as well as clients like Lucille Roberts and the N9NE Group.  In fact, when the weather is bad more people are typically inside, at home, and on the Internet MORE….which is a BETTER time to market to them, increase PPC, send targeted emails and offers, etc., etc.

Now please DO NOT think for a moment that I do not care about the safety of the Prime Visibility team – I wholeheartedly do!  We are extremely fortunate enough to still operate, work and execute ANYWHERE we are so long as we have a computer/laptop and internet access….how great is that??  So while I am in the office this morning and I ain’t alone!  I feel good knowing that we are serving clients, thinking strategically about the weather and marketing and delivering on our mission to “deliver extraordinary internet marketing services that exceed our clients expectations!”

Have a great day and be safe!

As a Long Islander and self-admitted domain addict, I have always had an interest in LongIsland.com owned by Invision. 

Recently, the opportunity presented itself to purchase LongIsland.com where the asking price was $500k – $1M; a price I was not willing to spend at the time…..however, in the past few weeks, feels like months, a lot has transpired and TODAY, hours before the closing of an online silent auction, the reserve price on LongIsland.com was lowered to $350,000.  Please note that I was aware of the price reduction before the sale was over…

While I sat in a new client meeting in Manhattan, I stared at my phone just waiting for the results….and then it happened, the domain LongIsland.com SOLD for $370,000 and at this point I don’t know who the buyer is but I sure am curious and even more curious to see what they do with this site based on some of the stipulations set forth with the purchase – see listing here

This domain has SO MUCH potential it’s insane!!  I won’t go too much into now as I’m sure the new owners might want to consult with us first…