How To Make 40 000$ With Your Forum

I sold my forum last week on Sitepoint. Although meant to be a 7-day auction, I received a BIN within 12 hours of the ad. This sale had special meaning because it was the last of my 'old' websites.

I remember starting off as a total newbie at Namepros back in late 2005, trying to make money with domain names. After a month, I knew it wasn't going to happen so I downloaded Coppermine and started my first website providing desktop wallpapers. I signed-up for Adsense and, unknowingly, optimized the site for a popular keyword.

The site was sold within two months for $6,500.

I learnt two important lessons:
1) it's not that difficult to make money from websites
2) SEO is important

So I spent the next months learning online marketing, basic web design (still using a GUI editor today), and the types of websites that make money (For Sale forums are a great place to start).

Approximately two years later, I've made $100,000 from my websites and I'm also an SEO/Internet Marketing consultant, with SME clients in Singapore to NYSE-listed MNCs. Not bad for someone with no formal training (civil engineer btw) eh?
The last straw was when I found out that I was going to be a father. And so I listed the forum for sale at SitePoint on Monday, usually not my favourite place because you had to pay US$25 for a standard listing.

The forum was listed close to midnight and by morning, I got a bucket load of private messages and a couple of solid bids - the highest offer was $36,000. It was less than what the magazine would’ve offered but still a considerable amount.

The bad news was my forum members got wind of the sale and I had to close the deal quickly, and let the new owners announce their plans so as to minimize the anxiety. By 12pm, the forum was sold and paid for.

So for all the newbies out there making $10 a month, my advice is to have faith in yourself and be patient because everything's possible.

http://www.larrylim.net/seo-online-marketing/
finally-sold-the-forum-3rd-and-final-part/95/






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