Morning Folks!!
All too often I see companies that strike gold and sellout
to the first buyer that comes along waving $$$ in their face. But why sell?? If
you hit a gusher, why not keep it? I think the hardest thing you can do is have
a successful business. And if you do have success, why get rid of it? Why sell it?
Unfortunatey sometimes this actually stunts growth and
progress. If my memory serves me right, many years ago IAC bought utrade.com. They bought them because imho they were a threat to uBid.com (which I believe sucks and sucks really bad) and quickly dismantled it. I have seen this play out over and
over again.
Had uTrade.com stayed on the scene with the plan they had, we would have all been better off. To this day, they had the single best co-branded, lead generating program that was ever on the net imo.
My traffic was growing. My earnings were growing. They were growing. They paid a $5 bounty for each signup. No BS. Each time they got a valid name and member for free it was $5. They new the value of that sign up and they knew the rest was up to them to convert. That added up to about $1300/day with my eBid.com and was growing every single day. It was when I truly learned about ratios and closing rates and targeted traffic.
1 visitor in 1000 to signup was really potent traffic. Normal was 1 in 10,000 or more. The thinking at the time was the best was about 1 in 800. Well the book got rewritten by ebid.com. We broke not only 1 in 800. Not only 1 in 500. Not only 1 in 100. But imagine 5 in 100?? Absolutely unheard of at that time. But THIS is the spark that happens with a perfect match of a site and traffic. So while others debate, I already know and it has been proven.
uBid.com actually bought traffic from me after that via "Avenue A". They paid $60k a month. This is in the day of "Impression Based Advertising" which basically caused the Internet bubble by selling smoke for HUGE dollars that could not convert to sales.Then via Avenue A, they wanted to buy my eBid.com. Their offer was $60,000. I laughed in their face. I explained they have been buying the traffic for $30k a month, why would I sell for $60k?? To that, they stopped buying my traffic and have never had contact since.
Had these guys had the backbone not to sell, I truly beleive things would have turned out much differently and the path would have been different. It could have put a stake in the heart of Impression Based Advertising years earlier.Today, utrade.com a parked page and owned by Match.com. eBid.com is a parked page and is still owned by me and has earned many times that $60k offer so many years ago. I always get offers, but the earning power still makes it a keeper. uTrade.com was a model to copy, not destroy.
uTrade.comAdministrative Contact:
Host Master
Match.com, L.L.C.
P.O. Box 25458
Dallas TX 75225
USHave a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
