Early in 2007 Brad Fallon launched FreeIQ.com as the ‘marketplace for ideas.’ It was supposed to be the YouTube for information marketers – where you could, among other things, upload, show and monetize your videos.

It hasn’t been quite two years since the launch of FreeIQ, but if Google Trends for Websites is any indication… the site has never really taken off.

There could be a number of reasons for FreeIQ’s less than stellar performance. Perhaps the service has never lived up to its promise… perhaps there were some technical difficulties that hindered initial uptake… perhaps its selling proposition is unclear…

Who knows? I have no clue, as I’ve never used it. Then again, perhaps that itself IS a clue…

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PlaySpan, a marketplace and micro-transaction payment system for virtual goods in over 200 different video games, has raised $16.8 million in series B funding from existing investors Easton Capital Group, Menlo Ventures, Novel TMT Ventures, and STIC.

PlaySpan’s investors have reason to be impressed. Over $50 million worth of transactions have gone through PlaySpan this year, and the company is generating revenues in the millions of dollars.

Source: Erick Schonfeld, “PlaySpan Raises $16.8 Million For Virtual-Goods Marketplace”, TechCrunch, November 2 2008

In the market for Wordpress blog theme template? Not satisfied with the free and paid themes you’ve seen so far? Or do you create and SELL Wordpress themes and want somewhere else to sell them?

Consider ThemeForest from Envato. ThemeForest is a service that allows you to buy or sell themes in the $10 to $50 range, and apparently has 150 themes in its library so far.

Some of them look quite good too…

Source: Don Reisinger, “Envato Launches Theme Marketplace For Your Blog”, TechCrunch, September 20, 2008

The New York Times has discovered what Internet marketers have known about - and been doing - for years: website flipping. In its strangely wide-eyed article about web flipping, the Times observes that flippers are the:

“latest wave of entrepreneurs who, like the day traders and real estate investors before them, are looking to make a lot of money without much effort.

They use little more than home computers and free software to buy Web sites that appeal to a small and specific niche. Then they fix up the sites with hopes of reselling them for far more than they paid.”

Apparently, web flipping is at all-time high with the number of sites sold on eBay doubling over the last three months, and sales quadrupling at SitePoint’s website marketplace.

But although more and more people are buying and selling websites… it’s questionable whether the majority of flippers are really making much money. The average price for those websites sold on eBay? A paltry $78.

Although a small group of savvy flippers are likely to be making the big bucks, it’s not difficult to grasp the keys to profitable web flipping. They’re much like the keys to success in real estate flipping:

1. Identify websites with high return on investment (ROI) potential - sites that are undervalued, and whose value can be substantially increased for relatively little cost.
2. Apply the necessary knowledge, skills and resources to increase the value of the site.
3. Sell the website at the right price in order to achieve the desired ROI.
4. Repeat this process over and over.

Website flipping is NOT something you want to do blindly. Not if you want to make it a significant source of income. So definitely get educated on how to do it properly. Just be selective when it comes to choosing a suitable training program or home study course, etc. Although I have not seen or undertaken it myself, I have heard a lot of good things about Ed Dale’s Dominiche course.

Ed is, in my opinion, one of the more knowledgeable and reputable high profile players within the Internet marketing niche. Plus, he’s a fellow Melbournian! So you might want to check out Dominiche. Otherwise, stay tuned - we’ll explore website flipping in greater detail in future issues of the newsletter.

Sources: Abha Bhattarai, “Find an Undervalued Asset. Fix It Up. Flip It. (Now It’s Web Sites, Not Houses)”, The New York Times, July 29, 2008, Dominiche

As a recovering perfectionist, let me wholeheartedly stress that, in many cases, you’re better off getting started with a given marketing initiative… rather than  waiting for all the research to be done, all the analysis to be complete, and everyone to be consulted.

While I also believe that some research, analysis and consultation is often necessary – you know, better to “look before you leap” to cite another cliché – once the evidence is overwhelming, it’s crucial to get underway for a number of reasons.

Possibly the most important reason for starting as soon as possible is to quickly get REAL answers about whether or not your marketing initiative will work.

No research study - and no-one’s expert opinion - beats actual market results. Assuming you have the ability to measure the results of your initiative (which is mandatory) you will soon see what is working and what isn’t, and what needs to be dumped, changed or further tested.

Which means delaying an initiative in order to gather more opinions about what will and won’t work is typically a colossal waste of time and resources. By all means begin your initiative based on some reasonable assumptions. For example, it’s reasonable to expect that an offer based on what’s popular according to search engine keyword analysis will be effective. But don’t delay it in order to conduct focus groups on whether or not your offer is likely to appeal to prospects. The opinions of a handful of focus groups (of six or so people each) are no match for the actual conversion data you’ll get from testing the offer in the marketplace.

Another reason why speed beats perfection is that it usually ensures that you actually do implement! So many worthwhile projects – including entire businesses – fail to get off the ground because they become mired in analysis paralysis… an endless loop of “stake holder” consultation… or the need for everything to be  exactly right. After a certain point, the longer the delay, the more others - and even you - will likely question the whole idea, and the greater the chance that it will be canned.

Thirdly, when you tend to introduce new initiatives only after a long, protracted process, you effectively perpetuate the idea that things must take a long time and a lot of effort before they can be implemented. Further, the pain associated with introducing a new initiative is likely to deter you from implementing further new initiatives. Not good when your business future likely relies on product and marketing innovation.

Meanwhile, long delays cause you to miss out on the power of momentum. Getting things going and seeing results quickly – good or bad – is empowering. It sends a message – both to yourself and others - that you CAN implement quickly… which, in turn, makes it easier to implement other things quickly.