After thousands of affiliate powered sites being launched for hundreds of clients over the past 6 month’s or so, we have decided on a price increase come new years. Why? Simple.. So we can focus more on the “serious” clients and provide a more advanced and a superb one-of-a-kind service. We’ll be adding some new exciting features as well based on all of the feedback that we have received and started implementing already.

Now is the last chance to get in on the $150/site rates… January 1, 2011 prices will be increasing to $299 per site. You snooze you lose.

On any given month I get quite a bit of search engine traffic, but November saw a record number via Google and all these people apparently were looking for info about Epik.com and/or Rob Monster. About 80 different keywords brought in boatloads of people.. Here they are in alphabetical order. Some were searched by the dozens, while some were only one timers.

1. anyone use epik.com
2. bad experience epik networks
3. buy epik bucks
4. buying a site from epik
5. buying a website from epik
6. cant sign into epik.com
7. does epik develop .me domains
8. domainstryker epik fail
9. duplicate content epik.com
10. epik adsense wishpot revenue blog
11. epik banned from google
12. epik blacklisted
13. epik bucks
14. epik de index
15. epik deindexed
16. epik deindexing
17. epik delisted
18. epik delisting
19. epik development experience
20. epik development platform
21. epik development platform forum
22. epik development sucks
23. epik domain
24. epik domain development
25. epik domains
26. epik duplicate content ip
27. epik earnings
28. epik earnings page
29. epik fail
30. epik failed interview
31. epik funding
32. epik google
33. epik is shit
34. epik minisites
35. epik networks bankruptcy
36. epik news
37. epik platform
38. epik platforms
39. epik portal sites banned by google
40. epik portals
41. epik product portal
42. epik quick sites
43. epik revenue sharing
44. epik rob monster
45. epik rob monster premium domain development
46. epik site banned google
47. epik sites banned
48. epik sites deindexed
49. epik sites deindexed google
50. epik sites deindexed news
51. epik sites or site rob monster
52. epik stats
53. epik the same ip
54. epik white label
55. epik.com alternatives
56. epik.com ban
57. epik.com banned
58. epik.com blacklisted
59. epik.com costs
60. epik.com delisting
61. epik.com domain
62. epik.com earnings
63. epik.com ecommerce
64. epik.com or datafeedscripts.net
65. epik.com reply
66. epik.com stats
67. epik.com sucks
68. epik.com testimonials
69. epiks business model
70. failed application epik
71. failed epik renewal
72. google bans epik
73. google epik
74. how does epik make money
75. how long until epik accepts you
76. portal epik product
77. rob monster epik deindexed
78. see stats epik.com
79. serps.com epik.com
80. turn around time for epik
81. where does epik get its information
82. wishpot and epik

Now just to set the record straight, I have nothing against Rob Monster. All of my “rants” last month or whatever you wanna call them had to be put out there.. Somebody’s gotta keep it real. It’s never personal… Just business. I think Rob Monster is a good guy overall, and he is definitely no dumbass because he is messing around with keyword domains after all. Gotta give him a ton of credit just for that. Domains are like gold… As for the previous “Epik” mass development strategies, that is a whole different story.

It’s really simple: Epik has no idea what they are doing when it comes to mass development. As for my own DMD service which was started and kicking ass way before Epik existed… This statement says it all: At DMD we provide “professional solutions at the most affordable prices… 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back with no questions asked” PERIOD.

That has been the motto since day one if you visit DomainMassDevelopment.com as it jumps straight at you and it will always remain up there so the message is communicated clearly.It’s how I like to do things.  Has to be win-win… No strings attached. No bullshit. What you see is what you get, and that is the #1 best selling mass development service around. Period.

Since starting to work with domainers over 2 years ago we’ve now done well over $2M in mass development projects across literally 10,000s of domains. How many refunds have we had to issue? I can only remember 1 or 2 cases and this is from well over 1,000 different clients that come from all walks of life.We keep it simple. Over any client’s active development cycle, they re-order at least 3 – 4 times on average and spend well over mid $x,xxx. Ask yourself why?

Once again, the tagline says it all. We proudly display it at the very top. No hype or anything else. We don’t lock you in either… Instead we empower our clients and give them control. Full control over everything 100%. Professional solutions at the most affordable prices… 100% satisfaction guaranteed or your money back with no questions asked. Try us out! You got nothing to lose.

There will be many wanna-be’s… They will come and go naturally… Vulture type. I’ve seen many fail literally within month’s because they were clueless and they never even had the chance, but there will always only be just ONE true domain mass development service focused on getting you the results needed. You don’t have to look very far. You already know where it’s at… Only a click or search away.

Google the almighty has laid the smackdown on Epik’s featured stores which you have heard so much about… IE: IceCreamMaker.com, HardDrives.com, Bikinis.net, etc. All of these sites which were linked up like crazy on the footer / bottom of all sites part of the “network” are now banned. Hate to do this, but I told you so here and once again here too. But WTF do I know? LOL

Copy/pasting for those too lazy to catch up… From my post on October 10, 2010:

Your sites are cross-linked with garbage…

What do I mean? Well, Epik catches many dropped domains and develops them. Many of these domains contain 1, 2 or more hyphens… This stuff screams “spam� immediately and red flags start flying all over the place in the eyes of Google. Also, the history for many of these domains I bet you is shady as hell. Marketers or in other words SEO spammers used all kinds of blackhat techniques to get them to rank one way or another. Once they were done with them, they let em drop… But here comes Epik, scooping up the garbage and trying to make something of it because automated valuations say this stuff is gold. Stupid. Real stupid if you ask me.

Firstly, forget Epik.com because it sucks… Simply follow the three steps below and you can be on your way to get your very own Shopping.com/Shopzilla.com powered PPC mega store that is 100% on auto-pilot.

1) Decide whether you want to use Shopping.com (an eBay company) or Shopzilla.com (aka Bizrate)

2) Signup for a publisher account… Wait a day or two to get approved

3) Visit http://datafeedscripts.net/ and order the correct script once you have your publisher credentials and API keys

That’s it! Very simple… For a few hundred bucks you get your very own mega store, installation and even some customization if you can’t do it on your own. Forget splitting revenues 50/50 and all the hype surrounding Epik product portals which rarely if ever perform. You want to make the most of your domains? You need to be in control.

Don’t expect to get rich with these because the PPC is really low compared to domain parking or even AdSense… But it is what it is. Just another option to explore

I received some very interesting comments from my previous post about Epik, which was the inspiration for this follow-up post… So yea, lets see… I could literally come up with like 100  or more reasons not to use the Epik powered PPC portals, but let me just point out some of the most important ones for now. Hopefully they sink in. I won’t use any big words and hype things up. I’ll keep it nice and simple for you all… Gotta call it like I see it.

Your sites are cross-linked with garbage…

What do I mean? Well, Epik catches many dropped domains and develops them. Many of these domains contain 1, 2 or more hyphens… This stuff screams “spam” immediately and red flags start flying all over the place in the eyes of Google. Also, the history for many of these domains I bet you is shady as hell. Marketers or in other words SEO spammers used all kinds of blackhat techniques to get them to rank one way or another. Once they were done with them, they let em drop… But here comes Epik, scooping up the garbage and trying to make something of it because automated valuations say this stuff is gold. Stupid. Real stupid if you ask me.

You are getting rob’d…

E-Commerce traffic is extremely valuable if put to use with the right setup, but with the ways things are right now, the only monetization options available are the 3rd tier bizrate.com product PPC feed and Google AdSense PPC ads on the sidebars…. You make pennies with these. Also don’t forget you have to split the revenues 50/50.

You are overpaying by about $248 for what you are getting

Not sure what makes people fall in love with the sites built by Epik… Is it the outstanding shitty logo that is quite noticeable? Does that work cost $100 or $200?? Because if you ask me, it could be produced in 5 minutes by a 12 year old in exchange for a pack of  gum. Maybe it’s the great SEO and copywriting… ? Oh wait, but it doesn’t even exist. LOL So what are you essentially paying for??! Do you know? I guess to be able to use a platform, but why are you using a platform that does not deliver anything but poor results? Beats me.

So that is just 3 reasons that I could pull right off top of my head. Now, it’s your turn. Go ahead and let your voice be heard. Your input is welcome. 3 down, 97 more to go.

I can’t believe that the hype is still alive and going strong when it comes to Epik product portals which are powered by a 3rd tier PPC shopping feed. The results are less than impressive in the SEO and PPC department if you ask me… By now, I would have thought the whole thing would go away and people would be doing something else, but no. So anyways, lets look at the numbers straight from some of Epik’s network of featured stores.

So… Is it really anything to get excited over? Personally, I think not. Far from it… I’d be crying all day long if my domains were only earning pennies… For example, Bra.net received 4,000 visitors and close to 2,000 clicks but earned something like $300. OUCH! If these were setup as regular affiliate powered stores, you’d be making a whole lot of money.. PERIOD. Keep-it-simple-stupid. Kiss It’s what you call a proven and winning strategy, but what do I know after all.

http://www.clothing.com/stats

Statistical Data for clothing.com

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 568

New Visits: 518

Total Pageviews: 1156

Unique Pageviews: 987

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $22.36

Clicks: 145

http://www.hobbies.com/stats

Statistical Data for hobbies.com

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 553

New Visits: 520

Total Pageviews: 1512

Unique Pageviews: 1198

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $8.97

Clicks: 115

http://www.bikinis.net/stats

Statistical Data for bikinis.net

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 978

New Visits: 940

Total Pageviews: 1728

Unique Pageviews: 1481

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $23.82

Clicks: 165

http://www.harddrives.com/stats

Statistical Data for harddrives.com

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 418

New Visits: 334

Total Pageviews: 1148

Unique Pageviews: 864

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $28.22

Clicks: 148

http://www.icecreammaker.com/stats

Statistical Data for icecreammaker.com

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 1933

New Visits: 1775

Total Pageviews: 3983

Unique Pageviews: 3270

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $192.02

Clicks: 1458

http://www.ereaders.net/stats

Statistical Data for ereaders.net

For the week of 2010-09-27 – 2010-10-03

Analytics

Total Visits: 1021

New Visits: 955

Total Pageviews: 2730

Unique Pageviews: 2106

Wishpot CPC Blend statistics

Earnings: $65.59

Clicks: 575

I was a “mass developer” way way back in the day even before I realized I was a domainer too. I was mass developing sites as far back as 2002. Whenever I had the time, I would focus on building out more sites and growing my portfolio… Taking over niches, one spot at a time.

I didn’t have the best domains by a long shot, they were generic 2 and 3 keywords long usually.. Some had 1 or 2 hyphens even and the most ridiculous made up suffixes / prefixes, but that is what everybody else had as well and were ranking without any problems, so it was all good.

To learn a bit more, you can head on over to the DNJournal.com interview I did with Ron Jackson about a year and a half ago. This is the one and only interview I ever agreed to because I am not really in this for the rockstar status or what have you.

Anyways… Mass development works for me for a couple of reasons. First one being, that it is all done in lottery style and of course the more sites you have out there, the better your chances are at scoring a lot more winners at the end of the day, and of course sooner than later all of the sites do “come around” if you know what you are doing, so in other words, they become profitable. Some within weeks, some within month’s, but it is all good in my book. Good investment. Time and money well spent.

Second reason and probably the most important one is that I am not a very patient person and I get bored really really fast. Just to give you an idea… I never in my life finished reading a book and don’t have any plans to… I’ve started reading many, especially back in school when it was required to do so for certain assignments but I never wanted or cared to finish them. It was boring, and I had a million other things going on.

So, I do absolutely love the “set and forget” model with domain mass development and it has worked out well for me for a while now. Of course YOU will not be able to replicate the same exact setup or get the same results that I have and continue to do, because everybody does things differently.

Over the years, the game has evolved quite a bit… Tons of challenges presented today, especially to new-comers. Want some advice? Go big or go home… That is the single most important advice you will get from me nowadays, because if you try to launch just a few little shitty sites and never do anything with them when the time is right… You will fail. If you launch dozens and do some additional tweaks here and there to the ones that are “breaking through” you will then and only then understand what domain mass development is all about.

Hard to explain this stuff to somebody who is not “hands on” and already deep in it… So are you in it to win it? If you only got a few sites, well, you definitely aren’t. The numbers aren’t in your favor… Odds are against you. Playing a game that is hard to win with such a weak line-up. Go big or go home, man.

I’ve been using Amazon both as a consumer and affiliate marketer for the longest… Don’t even remember when I started messing around with it first, but it seems like I always have and probably always will… And here is exactly why:

As a consumer I love knowing that they have everything and I mean they got it all so they get lots of my business for anything from small stuff to huge electronics, furniture, etc… I shop there at least a few times per week. They are the mall of all internet mall’s. Knowing that I also get 8% – 8.5% back off of each and every purchase the following month (affiliate commission) makes shopping there even better. I can spend that $$$$ on domains… YEA!

As an affiliate marketer and mass developer, I’ve launched thousands upon thousands of Amazon powered affiliate stores over the years and I’ve made a lot of money thanks to Amazon.com genius setup. They are one of the best if not the best at upselling clients, which is why we still continue to launch hundreds of Amazon powered affiliate stores on any given month.

What exactly does that mean though… Up-selling you?? Basically, they have some of the best algorithms / systems and processes in the e-commerce biz because they have a shitload of data. Soooo… They show you what you need when you are shopping around for a particular product and what happens is that you end up buying 5 or 10 other products because they go in a set / bundle real well… Plus the prices are unbeatable pretty much so it’s a done deal. Cha-ching $$$! They are a super-duper shopping engine with massive intelligence, not just a plain ol’ e-commerce store…. Think about it.

They also have great promotions and constantly market best sellers and specific items which they have determined you have a special interest in and most likely will buy.. They e-mail you, sending you promo’s as well as notifications about all kinds of other goodies every time you visit their site and that kind of personalization and “special treatment” goes along way with shoppers.

So I am pretty confident overall in delivering potential buyers to Amazon’s door. I just need to get that cookie with my tracking ID in the visitor’s PC and the rest is history… This is done simply via all of the store’s I run, acting as the middle-man. I trust Amazon to close a sale if there was ever the chance to do so, because if anybody can, it is them.

Everybody and their mamma knows about Amazon since they are the #1 e-commerce retailer in the US and many people have already shopped there at one point or another… So conversions overall, should be pretty good. My average is anywhere from 5% to 15% on a good day which is very very high by industry standards

Overall, I do love Amazon as a consumer and affiliate marketer as well.. There is a certain peace of mind in place… A well earned trust…. An established relationship from many years of win-win. Things are never going to be perfect because that’s just wishful thinking, just like they aren’t with Google… But it’s good to have the Amazon’s around, because without them, it would suck! Gotta take away the positives… Lets focus on those…. Lets build around them and make that $$$$$

I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from existing clients and potential clients as well asking me about the ContentMinisites.com offering… Why is it so cheap, is it any good, etc. Well, I’ll just let the following screenshots / results do all of the talking and just summarize things real quick once and for all because somebody has to.

As you can see, the very first example domain I used is banned over at Google and only one or two of the actual “content pages” are indexed at the other two engines, Yahoo and Bing.  If you also visit the site itself, Google AdSense ads aren’t displaying either. I highly doubt any traffic is being generated, and obviously no revenue earned.

Why all these problems? Because the content is not unique. It is scrapped / syndicated from 3rd parties. The search engines do not like these sites, and why should they? There is nothing special or unique about them whatsoever and besides MFA (made-for-adsense) sites are so 2005. That is when they were hot. These days, they are not. They are old news, and only get you in trouble as you can see.

So sure, the price for 1 of these “content minisites” is dirt cheap, only $49 and with 10 the price drops to $34 or 50 – 100 as low as $25 or $19 per site… But really, it’s a waste of time, money and resources. I don’t understand for the life of me, why would somebody buy one or 10 or 50 of these sites.

Don’t believe what I say? Visit all of the homepage showcase / demo sites… Query them in Google and the other two search engines as well. There is your answers, my friends. I could go on and on about this stuff, but there really is no point. The results are all there for you to examine.

These content minisites do more harm than good at the end of the day and you couldn’t even pay me enough $$$ to put up any one of these on one of my own domains. Nope! Not $10, $100 or $500. They are no good unfortunately and not sure why they are even being offered for sale. Two words; buyer beware.