Hey folks,

I would like to ask a couple of questions to those folks who own or run more than one site or have purchased their site from someone else.

I am in negotiations to purchase another Disney related site that is rather well established and could get me "in" with some of the important folks in the Disney online community

What are some of the things that I should ask for in regards to 'stats' about the site?

Search engine positioning, keyword rankings, traffic, etc? I've also asked to ensure that he doesn't owe any funds or advertising commitments to anyone in particular.

I'm almost certain that I'm getting a great deal as it is, but I want to make sure that I don't overlook anything.

What are your thoughts?

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Walt Disney Boards
Walt Disney Buddies
Glam Rock Talk : Under Construction :D

make sure he outlines everything, hosting, scripts, licenses, expiry dates, domain, etc in the price.

traffic stats are usually, pageviews per month, uniques per month...

SERP rankings are good to know but not absolutely neccessary

what ad networks he runs now and how much he makes monthly

will private advertisers still be on board after the sale

will members make a smooth transition

how will it happen? you merge their DB to your site? vice versa? etc.

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Philly Sports
Delaware Online
PA Forums

Thanks Chase! Good questions.

He's got a customized software running for this 'social' site for Disney. Unfortunately, I can't get access to the customized software because it's property of the company he works for. He 'borrowed' it with their permission, but they aren't allowing him to sell the software. So, I can take all of the custom graphics, customized avatars, logos, domain name rights and then add those to my own software.

His domain ends in October and he's planning on 'closing shop' on October 1st. So, I'd like to extend the domain name once I get it in my control and then place a "WEBSITE 2.0 Coming Soon!" splash page on there while I develop the site again. So, I'd have to take over the 'look and stuff' and get the domain name moved over to my hosting company as soon as possible.

He dropped the ball as far as advertising (only one sponsor, travel company and I have one already on board with me) and probably can't even give me an estimate of anything other than that. He is also including promotional materials (including a booth and customized cards that he had made) which we haven't detailed on the shipping piece. Hmm...I forgot to ask him that.

Anyone else have any ideas or thoughts about this?

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Walt Disney Boards
Walt Disney Buddies
Glam Rock Talk : Under Construction :D

if he's not including the software it''s run on, are you at least getting the user tables of the database 2 to (hopefully) migrate over to the software of your choice? There's a lot of value in existing members...

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Science Chats | Disabled NYC | The Chic Petite

Dave brings up the same concerns i had when i read your post. unless you are A lucky AND B got money to pay someone to merge the users and or content, posts, etc. then you might be SOL on any hopes of getting the "same site" they have.

if you can't effectively merge all that, you need to have a rock solid plan on how you are going to get those people re-registered and active.

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Philly Sports
Delaware Online
PA Forums

Good points folks.

We had actually already started discussions about the current members. We have agreed that he will send a minimum of three "endorsement" e-mails to the existing group to migrate them over. Unfortunately for me, he had agreed never to 'sell' the members and I can't actually get them as part of the deal. So, I'd assume that we'd lose at least 35-50% of the members (due to duplicate and inactive users) which leaves me with ~600 to 800 members. Still a great 'start' to my 'new' site.

I've been a part of the community and lots of folks know me there. But, I'd have to confirm as far as the breakdown of the 1,200 members. Are there any duplicated users? How many are 'active' vs 'inactive'? Etc. This would probably get me a better understanding of what I should be looking at.

I didn't think of the 'new urls' on everything. I was only thinking that I'd be fine because of the domain name being transferred to me. But, good point. Hmm....gotta think of a possible solution. The 'content' is, obviously, tied to the actual user as they post in a 'journal' and it is shared out over the network where it can be read and commented on. So, sounds like I'm going to be out of gas on that. Anyone have any ideas with that?

He did a great job of promoting the site, but really didn't have any features on it other than being able to post on your own 'journal', posting your 'favorite' info so that it was listed on your profile and uploading and commenting on pictures. It was very limited and the time spent online must've been minimal. But, the folks loved it because it was very simple and had a 'cute' design. I plan to add a couple of things to enhance the experience and keep folks online a little longer. But, I want to ensure that I don't overwhelm folks...so the rollouts would be planned out and implemented at strategic times.

I love the comments and questions folks...please keep them coming as it is definitely helping me.

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Walt Disney Boards
Walt Disney Buddies
Glam Rock Talk : Under Construction :D

So basically he can't sell you the software or the members, and now it sounds like you can't have the content either because iit's tied to the member accounts? And no matter what software you move to you'll either have to recreate his design or make a new one of your own. You're getting the domain name, custom logo and avatars, promotional materials... now I'm not saying you shouldn't go through with the deal (it sounds like the domain name alone is pretty valuable) but see if there's anything else of the site you can salvage. Are you getting any of the database?

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Science Chats | Disabled NYC | The Chic Petite

One more thing that occurredto me... if you can't have the software or members (and possibly the content) what does he intend to do with them? Delete them? Get a new domain name and start over? (I've heard of this happening occasionally)

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Science Chats | Disabled NYC | The Chic Petite

From the lack of work on the site and his lack of communication...I'm assuming (and he's eluded to it before) that he's just going to delete the info. But, that's a good point that you bring up Michele.

I've now started to think it through a bit and I might just create everything on my own with a new name and become his short-term competitor (he's closing as of October 1st) and take over the niche

The reason I'm thinking about this is that I can do everything that he's done with a new social networking software (since I'm going to have to do that anyways) and just brand it with my "WDB" branding. I can even promote it on his own site by doing 'journal posts' to my own journal that are put into the 'new posts' area that everyone can see.

You see, I'm planning to have a 'portal' page of TheWDBHub.com and then have links to our sites. TheWDBoards, TheWDBlogs and WDBuddies on it.

I'm sorta liking this idea.

Anyone know of a good social networking software that will allow us to have decent features but at a low price? Any suggestions?

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Walt Disney Boards
Walt Disney Buddies
Glam Rock Talk : Under Construction :D

I use this script for a social site of mine. Pretty solid and has great support.

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